Sara & Sofia advent calendar (Season 14 & 15)
by Fleppy85
Summary: Sara & Sofia talk after the cases of season 14 & 15
1. Chapter 1

1\. The devil and D.B. Russell

"Hey, how are you?" Sofia took Sara's hand.

"Alive."

"How are Jim and Morgan?"

"Morgan is in hospital, she's going to be all right, was lucky. Jim … Nancy's death was hard, that his daughter killed her, killed her own mother, made everything more complicated. And more sad."

"She also almost killed Morgan."

"Yes, she was willing to kill and killed people so her secret wasn't uncovered."

"How much can you hate your own father and mother when you kill them or want to kill them?" Sofia sighed and regretted the question the second she asked it. Sara's relationship with her own father had been difficult. It wasn't the best idea to ask her such kind of rhetorical question. "Sorry, I didn't mean to … I didn't think of …"

"It's okay. In Ellie's world she had all reasons to hate her parents, they divorced her, the man, who said he was her father, wasn't her father, they lied to her for years. All good reasons to hate your parents, but not to kill them."

"There must be something wrong with her head. Too many drugs."

"She destroyed her own life, killed her mother and ruined the life of her father."

"I have to visit Jim, see how he's holding up. Most people think he's a tough guy, but he isn't. I remember the Bell shooting, we've both been through hell and back and when it was clear, he shot Bell … he was still there for me although he was the one, who needed support. I owe him a lot."

"We all do and we all shouldn't leave him alone. I suppose he's going to say, he wants to be alone, but I don't think he really means it." Sara sipped on the beer, the bartender had placed in front of her a minute ago. It was a hard time for the whole lab.

"I'm glad Morgan will be fine, Ecklie must have been terrified."

"He was. Last year he was shot, now his daughter. The few years Morgan has been in Las Vegas, a lot of happened to her and her family. I wonder if she sometimes thinks, her life would have been better if she had stayed in Los Angeles. Somehow Las Vegas seems to be not a city for a CSI to live long and happily."

"Does that include you? Are you thinking about going back to San Francisco? How was it there?"

"It was okay, I went there for work, not for fun. And no, I have no plans moving back there. It's just, a lot of things happened to the nightshift people."

"True."

"You know, I asked myself if I were this angry with my father if he was still alive. If I wanted him dead."

"Did you find an answer?"

"Not really. He wasn't a nice man, like my mother wasn't a nice mother and yet, we managed to find a relationship, that makes it possible for us to be together without being caught in the past all the time. What I know is, I'd like to find to find it out, but it's not possible and that's what makes me sad the most."

"Once a person is gone, you have no chance to get him or her back, true. That's why you should do and say all the things to somebody, as long as you have the chance. Let me start with something: I'm glad you're back, Sara and I'm enjoying our time together and am grateful, we changed our rocky relationship to this."

"Same here, I'm glad we meet and I like to talk to you about cases - and beyond." Sara smiled and lifted her glass towards the blonde.


	2. Chapter 2

**2\. Take the money and run**

"I heard Morgan is working again." Sofia handed Sara her beer when the brunette arrived at the bar.

"She is. With somebody by her side, who is very protecting and would rather see her on a couch than in the lab."

"Greg."

"Yes. I'm not sure he still has a crush on her or if it's friendship, but he worries a lot."

"She replaced you."

"Oh please." Sara laughed. "It's a long time ago he had a crush on me. Over a decade."

"You can't say he has a bad taste in women. Except for this school teacher, who played him."

"Ellen."

"Right. He and Morgan would be a great couple, I hope one day they're more than friends." Sofia took a sip of beer. "Tell me about your case. The motorcyclist made quite a mess on Freemont Street before he died. For nothing. Our suspect killed four people."

"All for the money?"

"Kind of. Archer told us, he took the money because his wife died five months ago, she had cancer and left a lot of medical bills. He needed to money to cover them and he wanted to offer his son something, raise him good."

"A cheap excuse. He wanted the money to make it easier for himself. His son doesn't care about money, about bills, his son cares about love and you can't buy love with money. What kind of father risks to be taken away from his son after the mother died? What kind of father risks that his son will grow up in foster families, will be adopted by strangers or finds out one day, his father is in jail for killing four people. For money. If he had thought about his son, he had not taken the money, not killed a person. He had worked his ass off and still made time to play with his son and be there for him."

Sara raised an eyebrow. She had never seen Sofia this angry. "Are you okay?"

"Just mad at people, who kill other people because it makes their own life easier and then blame it on a baby. Life isn't easy as a single parents, life isn't easy with bills left behind, but damn it, there are thousands of people, who have the same problem and they don't go berserk and kill four people to get money. They work their ass off, come home, prepare dinner and read a damn good night story to their kid before they tuck it in."

"People tend to go for the easy way out."

"People are idiots sometimes."

Now Sara grinned.

"What? Yes I know, I sound like you. I'm right anyway."

"Yes you are." Sara put her hand on Sofia's for second. "I can understand why you're angry. Believe me, I've been through the same feelings when we found out what really happened."

"What will happen to the baby? What's his name?"

"Christopher. Child Service took care of him, they're looking for the grandparents. Hopefully they can take care of him, so he doesn't have to grow up with strangers."

"He will never have the chance to play with his father in the park."

"No."

"He might be allowed to see him, unless he's getting the needle."

"Four people are dead because of him." There was a big possibility that Ryan Archer got the needle and would never see his son again.


	3. Chapter 3

**3\. Torch song**

Usually Sara was a fan of concerts and live music, today she sent Sofia a message and asked her to meet her at a small park for a walk instead of a beer in the bar. Somehow she had the feeling there was still smoke in her lungs and she needed fresh air. Well, as fresh as the air could be in Las Vegas during summer.

"I heard Nick got pretty angry with a fire fighter." Sofia said when they met.

"He had all reasons too. This guy knew the signature of the fire and didn't tell them. Because he investigated the case himself. Who does he think he is? A cop? A CSI?"

"Maybe he wants to be a CSI and this was his way of checking how good he is."

"He sucks. I hope his boss told him a thing or two."

"Hopefully he did. But he wasn't the one, who started the fire."

"No, the arsonist is in hospital, he burnt himself pretty bad. Morgan had problem to take his fingerprints. He was paid by the owner to set the fire."

"Why did the owner want his club burnt?"

"For the insurance money? Because the teenagers didn't treat him with the respect he wanted?"

"They are teenager, they don't respect anybody, who is over thirty. Especially when they're out and party. We were the same when we were young."

"Speak for yourself, I wasn't like that and I don't believe you didn't show respect to your mother. She'd have granted you for a long time if you showed disrespect towards her. Captain Curtis doesn't accept disrespect."

Sofia laughed. "Yeah, you got that right." Her mother still demanded respect, although Sofia outranked her. It was one of their battles and both women enjoyed it. What a pity her mother would retire soon. Or what a nightmare, she didn't want to think about, what could happen. Like her mother showing up at her place every day to hear, what Sofia did.

"The murder of the young Latino had nothing to do with the fire, he was killed because one idiot thought, he had no right to be there."

"It was a hate concert, right? White Rising. It's sad we have people living in this country, who believe they're better because of their skin color and it's even worse there are bands, who sing about this bullshit, supporting it. And that people go there. Teenagers end up in bars with these bands playing, when all the wanted was to have some fun and when everything goes wrong, they start to believe these bands are telling the truth because the music is cool."

"History repeats itself all the time, Sofia. We've been there decades ago, we'll have the same problems in a few decades again."

"You'd think with a black president our country would be smarter."

"Not everybody voted for him, there're thousands of people, who didn't vote for him because of his skin color. It's impossible to get hate out of all people, like we can't do anything to make them stop killing each other."

"We can only lock them up after they did it, yes. It doesn't bring the son back to his mother."

"No. In moments like these, I'm glad I don't have children, don't have to worry about what they're doing when they're out at night with friends."

"True. Although I think you'd be a great mother. And a cool one. It's not too late for that, Sara" Sofia bopped her friend.

"Oh believe me, it's too late." The brunette answered and laughed. It was much too late for her to become a mother. And it wasn't the right time. Somehow, it had never been.


	4. Chapter 4

**4\. Last supper**

Today Sofia thought about becoming a vegetarian for the first time in her life. Human flesh in a cooking show, in dishes. How disgusting was that? Or maybe she should become a vegan, there had been a dish with human blood too, right? She didn't want any kind of human body parts of fluids in her food.

"Since when do you celebrate your knock off time with a salad?" Sara sat next to the blonde.

"Since your colleague worked one of the grossest cases ever. Human flesh and blood in dishes."

"Oh yes, I'm very happy I didn't work this case. Greg told me about it and it was the gossip of the lab, of course."

"Not only of the lab."

"It made you choose salad tonight. Afraid there is some of the victim's flesh still out and might end up on your plate? As your steak?"

"No, but people are sick, they read and hear about these things and think, they could do the same."

"We most definitely have people in this city, who are crazy enough to do this." Sara picked up a piece of carrot. "The victim, Derrick, was a real asshole. I've seen scenes of the show, the audience never saw. Add to it the attempted rape of Michelle and you have no so likeable man."

"Did you watch the show?"

"Me?" Sara chuckled. "No."

"Come on, you can't be interesting in anything else than science. Any TV show? Series?"

"Sorry, I've no time for these things, I'm busy at work and after work, there's a deputy chief, who demands some time too."

"We can meet at your or my place and watch TV."

"No."

"Okay, back to the case. The producer killed Derek and Curtis because they raped and killed her sister fifteen years ago. For all these years they lied to her, never told her and when she found out and all she wanted was justice for her sister."

"Vigilantism is illegal, no matter how good you understand why somebody did it."

"I know." She had been there a couple of times, understanding the killer's reason for doing what he did. It was wrong, illegal and yet, it made sense to her. "It was wrong and she'll pay for it. But nevertheless, I hope she finds some peace now."

"And I hope they were really the men, who killed her sister. Otherwise she killed two men, who might not have been role models for perfect civilians, but no killer."

"It's not our case and we might never know, if they really killed her. There is no confession."

"No." Sofia pushed her empty plate aside. "What about Hodges? He and Elisabetta are not going to get married?"

"From what Greg told me, no. Apparently both realized, they do love each other, but enough to give up their old lives. She wants to live in Italy, wants him to work for her father, he wants to live in Vegas, with her. Morgan told him something, I think it's really true: Never marry the one you think you can live with, marry the one you know, you can't live without."

"That's true." It was on the tip of Sofia's tongue to ask Sara, if Grissom was the one, she couldn't live without, but she didn't. The brunette has been living for a long time without her husband by her side, they weren't divorced, on paper, they were still married. But did they feel like they were married? Was Grissom still the one, Sara couldn't live without? Was Sara still the one, Grissom couldn't live without? Had they ever been the one, they couldn't live without? It was question maybe not even the brunette could answer and it was a question, Sofia surely didn't want to ask.


	5. Chapter 5

**5\. Frame by frame**

When Sara saw the crime scene photos Greg shot, she gasped for air for a second. The model of the PREMIERE casino reminded her for a second of the miniature killer. Most times she managed to keep Nathalie out of her mind, but sometimes she and her crimes, her own abduction and almost death, crept back into her mind, gave her nightmares or bad day dreams.

But what was almost worse was seeing Jack Witten again. The man, who got away with murder, fourteen years ago. Darcy vanished and never came back. Gosh, back then she could have strangled Ecklie with her bare hands back then and today she worked with him together because he was as determined to get Witten as she was.

"Do you think sometimes I push too much?" Sara asked Sofia before the blonde could greet her.

"Uhm, is this a catch-22 question?"

"No."

"Yes you do and you know that."

"That's exactly what Russell said."

"He's a smart man and sometimes it's a good thing. So, you closed an old case."

"Yeah and it didn't end the way I was sure it would. For fourteen years I believed Jack Witten killed Darcy and today I learnt, he didn't. He was the victim and she was the perpetrator. Together with Geer, a photographer, who worked for Witten. They staged her death, made Witten believe, he killed her when he was stoned and blackmailed him after they left wrong evidence behind for us. And we fell for it."

"What about the dead girl in the living room? The case, that got you there."

"She was a burglar and killed by her friend, who got mad when she found out Gwen had slept with her boyfriend. So she killed her, staged the scene and she was back in the preservation room to get the film, she heard Witten call the police, closed the door, swallowed the film and tied herself up. The silver in the film poisoned her and she died in hospital. Looked bluish, so Doc told me not to say anything about smurfs."

Sofia laughed. "It wouldn't surprise me if you had."

"My tactfulness is better."

"No comment. Why did Darcy staged her death?"

"To get away from her father, she told me, he sexually abused her. We have no proof of that, can't rule it out, but she ruined the life of another person, just the way her father did, if she doesn't lie. Although, her father is paying for her lawyer because is charged for the murder of Geer. Which she claims was self-defense."

"I've no idea how many times I've heard somebody telling me it was self-defense when it was ice cold murder."

"Too often."

"Yes. She lived in Chicago the last years?"

"With her husband and two kids."

"Another family ruined. How many open cases do you have? From all the years you've been in Vegas?"

"Too many, we can't solve them all." And sometimes, even when you solved them years later, it didn't make you happy. "This was my first high profile case, I worked it with Cath and Ecklie took the case away from us because Grissom had been away and we weren't good enough. So Ecklie said."

"Back then he was a real asshole. Amazing how much he has changed, you can almost like him now. Must be his daughter."

"I'm sure Morgan has a lot to do with it." Sara laughed sarcastic. "Darcy told me people can change. Ecklie is a proof they do, she is a proof, that not everybody, who claims she has changed, really changed."


	6. Chapter 6

**6\. Passed pawns**

"My heroine." Sofia grinned when she saw Sara.

"Huh?"

"One look at a picture and you open a case, that two other CSIs closed."

"A second after I talked to Morgan, Greg told her the case isn't closed. If I'm a heroine, he is a hero."

"A hero, whose girlfriend flirts with another man."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Morgan has a fan on dayshift. There were a few sparks and I'm not sure Greg will like that."

"They are not a couple, she can do whatever she wants. He should do something about her, otherwise she's gone. There's no reason for him to hold back, unless she tells him to do so."

"You tell him, I'm sure he listens to you." Sofia smiled. "Okay, to your case. The victim, Jeremy Sikes, wasn't that innocent, as you thought he was."

"No, the fairytale from making three hundred fifty thousand dollar out of two hundred got a lot of attention. And can you believe, he ends up at the table of a dealer, whose husband he killed. Which she paid for. The world can be so small."

"Too small sometimes. She was the suspect on Sikes' death."

"Yes, but she had no idea he killed her husband, but she sent us to Ruby and her pawn shop. Now Ruby knew who he was, she shot him, stabbed him afterwards to frame Delgado."

"Not an unknown name in Vegas, he's involved in drugs."

"He is and he shot out the pawn shop, shot the oldest son of Ruby and took her younger one, Zeke. Brass went to Delgado, acted not exactly the way he was supposed to, but he made a point and got the boy back, bruised, but alive."

"Jim knows the old Vegas style, sometimes it helps you more than sticking to the rules. At least in this city."

"Apparently. Pierce, an employee of the casino, was a suspect in the Sikes killing, ended up death before we could talk to him. He was killed by Esposito, the pit boss. He watched Pierce steal from the casino and took care of it the old Vegas style."

"Why does 'the old Vegas style' always means somebody has to die?"

"Maybe because that was the old Vegas style. I'm sure Greg can tell you a lot about this."

"Yes. Why did Delgado take the boy?"

"Because he thought Ruby had the drugs, Sikes stole from him, but Ruby had already sold them."

"So she got her oldest son killed and her youngest abducted? Great mother."

"She won't become mother of the year."

"So one case and how many criminals? Delgado, Sikes, Ruby."

"Kristi, she ordered a killer for her husband. Esposito and Alonso. Almost everybody involved in this case was a criminal."

"Makes you wonder what's wrong with the world."

"We don't wonder about that anymore."

"True. How was working with dayshift?"

"I've no idea why there's a rival between day- and nightshift. To be honest we do joke about them sometimes, or joked about them. There were times, when the team was a mess."

"Really?" Sofia cocked a brow. She didn't recall her old shift being a mess. When she was the acting supervisor, everything worked out the way it should.


	7. Chapter 7

**7\. Under a cloud**

Sofia pulled Sara in her arms as soon as the brunette was at their bar. She held her tight and squeezed her hard. "I'm so glad you're all right. When they told me you had a bomb in your hands, I thought it's a bad joke. Are you really okay?"

"Yes."

"How is Greg?"

"An IA investigation is never easy. When one of your colleagues, a person you trust, is involved, treats you like you're a criminal and did something wrong, it's even worse. He knows Finn did nothing wrong, she did exactly what she had to do."

"Which didn't make it easier on him."

"No. In the end Finn and Rhodes found out what really happened. Ellis's blood got onto the crowbar because the police officer, who was a rookie back then, helped Ellis first when he had a nosebleed and then, when Ellis were taken away, he went inside the house to have a look at the body, stumbled, put the crowbar back and transferred Ellis's blood onto the crowbar while touching it. Greg never planted evidence and he never changed the crime scene. Not that I ever doubted that."

"Neither did I. The IA investigation was necessary anyway."

"I know, I've been there before, I investigated Warrick."

"Right, the death of Holly. Not the best way to start a new job."

"The worst. I'm glad everything ended good for Greg."

"Me too. And your bomber. What a weird case."

"In the end I had never been in danger, but I can tell you, these twenty minutes, I held that bomb, not knowing if and when it goes off, was a long time to think about life and death and what's important in life. I can't recommend it, but it did leave an impression on me."

"I bet. The FBI was behind it."

"Yeah, they wanted their agent to look good, the slippery ground changed the plan."

"His body was taken away by them."

"He's not dead, his job is over, they arrested Armenian mobsters."

"Mobsters are never out of style in Vegas, I guess."

"No."

"This bomb squad guy you worked with, he is kind of cute."

"I can give you his number."

"No thanks, keep it, I'm fine."

"Right, the mysterious boyfriend."

"He's not mysterious, he's a normal guy you haven't met because we always meet alone and not for things like dinner with friends.

"There's no reason we can't do that. I'm sure there are few people, who used to work with you, who wouldn't mind if they meet you for dinner, deputy chief Curtis."

"And I surely wouldn't mind meeting some of you guys. Bring it on, we can all have dinner together."

"I let them know." Sara took a good look at Sofia. "Did the FBI contact you?"

"No, they contacted Ecklie and the chief. I'm only second in command."

"One day you'll be the number one."

"Oh, I thought I'm already your number one, Sara." Sofia held her heart.

"You're the number one on my crazy people list." The brunette laughed and got her arm around the blonde. Maybe Sofia was also her number one on another list, but there was no need to tell the blonde.


	8. Chapter 8

**8\. Helpless**

"How is CSI Banks?" Sofia asked and sat down next to Sara.

"Better. Her son is taking care of her."

"Maybe the shock was what he needed."

"Apparently. Is it a sign of true love when a mother tries to kill herself because she believe her son died or is it crazy? Nature doesn't plan for parents to outlive their children, but nature also doesn't plan for us to end our life when we plan."

"That's in the eye of the beholder, nature gave us the ability to end our life when we want it to be over, animals don't do it."

"So you think it's normal what she did?" Sara wondered.

"No, I don't and it's sad she tried, but a part of me can understand her. The thought of losing the person, we love most, is hard and death seems to offer a fast and painless way out of what we know will happen. Months or years of moaning, pain, self-accusation and nobody can take this away from you."

"True." The brunette smiled shortly at the bartender, who placed a glass of wine in front of her.

"Luckily she and her son are alive and the serial rapist is in jail. The father of the former boyfriend of victim number three."

"Amy had been the only woman, Mister Wallace had been interested in, the others were only rehearsals. He got a sick obsession for his son's girlfriend, walked in on her when she took a shower, had to touch her and when his son and Amy broke up, he saw it as his chance to have her. Banks was sure it's the son, Jared, his dad more or less framed him, but he had nothing to do with this."

"I heard Jared and Banks almost got at each other at the department."

"Yes, she tried to make him spit at her, so she has his DNA, he didn't. It was worth a try, although we know now, she should have tried the same with the father."

"A sick man. What about the man in the hamster ball and the woman in the package?"

"He was into claustrophilia, had a website, where he sold all kinds of toys for people, with the same … interested. The ball contains enjoy air for twenty minutes, so you have all the time in the world to get ready for your personal kick of getting out of air and being trapped in a tight space. The ball also has a two way zipper, so you can end your game whenever you want; unless it's too late and you lost consciousness."

"Definitive nothing I want to try."

"Me neither. The woman, who was married, fantasized about being shipped in a package. Her husband let her do a lot of things with Fisk, the dead man in the hamster ball, but when she really sent herself in a package, he went to see Fisk, confronted him. Fisk made fun of him, while he was in the hamster ball, Mister Davis picked up a statue, hit him through the ball, killed him and then the hamster ball started rolling down the street."

"Bizarre."

"Unfortunately Mrs. Davis died in the package, she was turned over in transit and asphyxiated. The package arrived at Fisk's house while Russell and Finn were there, they opened it and found her."

"The next time I open a package, I didn't order, I'll think about this case." Sofia agitated.

"When you think you've seen it all, something new comes. Las Vegas is a city, that never runs out of weird ways of death."

"I'm not sure it's a good thing. And I certainly am grateful for open space not having a fetish like claustrophilia."

"What is your fetish?" Sara grinned.

"That, my dear Sara, is none of your business."


	9. Chapter 9

**9\. Check in and check out**

"You know what really scares me?" Sofia asked when she met Sara in front of the lab. They decided to meet there and walk to their dinner destination, as the weather was perfect for an early evening walk.

"What?"

"Dolls."

"Dolls? Really? I found the motel owner scarier. He monitored all rooms of his motel, it reminded me of the old Sharon Stone movie, what was it called again?"

"Sliver."

"Right, with one of the Baldwin brothers."

"The difference is, the guy, who put up the cameras in the movie, didn't take them up to see other people kill each other. And he didn't add drugs to the rooms of his tenants to see them went berserk."

"No. Sick bastard."

"How is Hodges, by the way?" Sofia asked.

"Better. He's back at work."

"I can't believe he almost killed Henry."

"It wasn't like he decided to give it a try, he was sprayed with the LSD and lost his mind, just like the other people, who were in the bathroom. It's a wonder not more people got killed in this room."

"The LSD only works when it gets into your body, like when the spray hit your eyes or your open mouth, your nose. The other people must have been lucky and were out of the bathroom, when the LSD was sprayed."

"I'm going to check my next hotel room, that's for sure. Not only for cameras, but also for hidden drug sprays and I'll take my own sheets. Do you have any idea how many different contributions of DNA we found on the bedspread?" Sara said with disgust. Weren't these things ever cleaned?

"Too many."

"Way too many. Why don't they get washed?"

"I read somewhere, if you want a certain amount of stars, you have to clean them like once a week or even more often. A motel, that charges less than forty dollar a night, doesn't have these stars to care. And I wouldn't bet the expensive casinos do all the time. I remember cases in high end casinos, where we found a lot of things, I didn't expect to be in a room, that costs like five hundred dollars a night."

"True." Maybe Sara didn't want to go on vacation anymore. When she stayed at home, she was sure, all her surrounding were clean. And not full of whatever people left behind. "The motel owner was very pleased with himself, with the videos he made."

"He's the big entertainment boss."

"Yes and he did nothing wrong, according to himself."

"Of course not, spraying drugs into bathrooms, monitoring people in their rooms, it's all normal. Big Brother is on TV and everybody is watching it, why shouldn't he be allowed to do the same for his entertainment?"

"Exactly."

"I think my next vacation is a camping trip. My own RV, my own tent, places I know, nobody monitors me, everything is clean." The blonde thought out loud. "My parents used to take me on long RV trips when I was a kid, I finally realized, it wasn't the worst thing to do. At least we knew we had our privacy and clean sheets."

"It's more than other have." And all the people, who died in room 114 wanted when they checked in.


	10. Chapter 10

**10\. Girls gone wild**

"Why do you have to get hurt all the time?" Sofia stroke softly over Sara's head wound. "Less than half a inch to the left and you wouldn't be here anymore."

"It was supposed to be a fun weekend. Spa, massage, drinks."

"Which got you and Finn almost killed."

"You know me, I can't stay out of trouble."

"Obviously." Sofia shook her head and pulled Sara in her arms. "You have to stop acting like there's nobody out here, who would miss you when you're gone. There are a lot of people, who would be more than sad if you're gone. I'm one of them and I tell you, if you ever do something like this again, I'll bend you over my knee and smack your ass until it has all the colors of the rainbow. Understand?"

"Understood." Sara kissed Sofia's cheek. "Thanks."

"Good, now that we've made this clear, tell me what happened."

"Well, Finn's car broke down, a handsome tow truck driver, Darryl, gave us a lift into Larkston, where we had to wait for the spare part to arrive. Darryl and friend got quite friendly during the karaoke night - you have to hear Morgan sing, she's awesome as Janis Joplin. Anyway, on the way to the motel Finn found out Darryl is married and pushed him away. He didn't accept her now, tried to rape her, they fought, he had a knife, she got it into her hands, stabbed him, came back to the bar. By the time we went back to the scene, Darryl was gone, taken by somebody in a truck. First we thought it's his wife, but she left in the morning for Vegas. Greg found evidence of marihuana in the truck and with the help of the electrical grid they found out, where the drugs were located. I went there with the sheriff and the deputy and we not only found drugs but also the body of a woman in the hood of a car."

"Which was taken to Las Vegas."

"Yes. Morgan took DNA from everybody, who was at the crime scene, Doc got DNA from the body. All cars in the barn belonged to women, who went missing."

"I assume they're all dead."

"I'm afraid so, yes. We got a tip where Darryl's car was found, I drove there with the sheriff and the deputy. While we were at the scene I got a phone call from Henry and he told me, the DNA found on the woman's body belonged to the deputy. I confronted him, he, the sheriff and I had our weapons out, the deputy shoots first at the sheriff and then at me. My bullet hits him in the head, his bullet grazed my head. I called Morgan, she sent Nick, Russell and Jim." Sara wondered why they hadn't called their friends earlier. It could have saved them a lot of trouble.

"Where were Finn?"

"After released from her house arrest, she searched for Darryl, found the place, where he took the women and was surprised by him. They found, he hit her with an axe handle, she shot him. He tempered with her car, so she had to walk and on her way back to Larkston, she was hit by a car."

"The local physician."

"Yes, tried to kill her, his Million Mile Club on the car's grille left an impression on Finn, so we identified him. According to Nick, Doctor Kinney said he never hurt the women."

"He raped them."

"To him, it was fun, nothing bad."

"Men like him make me sick." Sofia grumbled. "I hope somebody has some fun with him in prison, maybe he'll understand the difference between fun and rape then."

"I'm sure he will." Sara got her arm around Sofia. "Come on, enough of the case, I need a cold beer and evening, that doesn't end in a murder or rape investigation."

"Lady, I'm your woman for that." The blonde blinked at the brunette. She was always in for a cold beer.


	11. Chapter 11

**11\. The lost reindeer**

"Merry Christmas, Sofia."

"Merry Christmas, Sara. How was the Christmas party at the lab?"

"Nice. We all had fun, nice food and maybe a little bit of alcohol."

"A little bit?" Sofia laughed. "I think that's a little lie."

"Maybe. A white one. Like when you tell children, Santa exists."

"Like that. Before we go over to the case, I've got one more question for you."

"Which is?"

"What are you doing on Christmas day?"

"I work. Why?"

"How about some Christmas dinner afterwards? I know you're not that fond of Christmas, but we could go out for dinner at a nice place, drink some wine, have a good time."

"Aren't you celebrating with your family?"

"I will, while you're working. What do you say?"

"Okay, why not."

"Perfect." Sofia grinned. That was easier than she thought it would be. "So, we had a reindeer in Vegas, faked snow and a dead Santa."

"All at a Christmas party. It was weird, seventy degrees outside and there was snow in the garden. And a dead Santa, who wasn't the one, everybody thought he is. The man, who was supposed to play Santa, Jayson, left the party and an employee of the company, Brad, took over for him. He was stabbed several times, which looked like any other kind of murder, but we found out, somebody aimed for the kidneys of the man."

"So somebody wanted Jayson dead and not Brad. A deadly mistake."

"Yes."

"What did Jayson do to piss somebody off?"

"Jayson transports fish from Mexico to Vegas and he works for the Winter Wonderland Company. While transporting fish, he also transports cocaine, like his older brother Gary, who spends his time at Ely State Prison. He got there because his little brother testified against him, but he has no time to be mad with him because he needs a kidney and his brother is supposed to give it to him. Well, that was plan."

"What got in the way?"

"Somehow Jayson ended up on the wrong bus and was transported to Buffalo. It will take a lot of time before he can come back to Nevada, don't you think?"

"How did that happen?"

"Let's say, Jim made a little mistake, it can happen to all of us."

"Of course." The blonde laughed. "So Jayson was supposed to be dead, Brad is dead and the one, who wanted Jayson dead, is who?"

"Ryan, the man who organized the party and was kidnapped by Jayson. Ryan's wife worked at a bank and was killed two years ago. She was about to discover something about money, that was laundered. Gary and Jayson were behind this. They killed her, Ryan found out somehow and he wanted to kill Jayson in order to have Gary die too."

"I can understand him, which doesn't make his actions right."

"No. The sad thing is, he has a son and this little boy lost first his mother and now he lost his father too."

"Shit. Did Child Service take him?"

"No, he'll go to his grandparents."

"That's good, that's the best he can get." Sofia sighed. This wasn't a happy Christmas story. Too many people died and a boy lost his father.


	12. Chapter 12

**12\. Keep calm and carry on**

"If you could jump on a plane right now and fly to any destination, which one would it be?" Sofia asked.

"Bora Bora."

The blonde whistled. "Nice, expensive destination."

"You didn't say it had to be a realistic trip."

"No, there were no rules. So Bora Bora it is."

"Where would you go to?"

"Alaska. I watched a documentation about polar bears yesterday and I'd like to see them live, watch them play."

"Quite the opposite of my destination, but also very interesting. I hope we'd last longer than the victim of my last case."

"She was pushed out of a van?"

"Push, slapped. Her boyfriend and she had an argument, he slapped her, she fought back. For year her husband had been abusing her, she was sick and tired of that, fought back, the wasn't closed properly, she fell out of the van. It sped with forty-five miles and her boyfriend didn't stop, he just left."

"Nice boyfriend."

"Yeah, he was supposed to help her, she wanted to vanish, get away from her husband, he told her, he knew a man, who could help her. In the end all he wanted was her money, she was supposed to pay thirty thousand dollar to the mystery man, who wanted to help her."

"If you have friends like him, you don't need enemies."

"Yes."

"I heard Nick had an interesting way to make a witness talk."

"Yes, we caught the guy and his friends pointing lasers at pilots. He didn't want to talk first, Nick placed him in the middle of not so nice looking men, his future company, threatened to call the FBI in and in the end, the guy remembered seeing a van with a guy on it, that looked like a farmer just with a mob."

"Cleaning company?"

"Right, the cleaning company of the helpful boyfriend. He even gave Nick his card, in case we needed somebody to clean. The cleaning guy works in a company, that prints security badges. Our victim, Helen, had a faked ID printed on such a machine. We talked to a travel agent, who confirmed Nalley, the cleaning guy, bought the plane ticket for the victim."

"What a messed up guy. And it all started with a grand larceny in the plane?"

"An elderly man helped himself to a couple of items, watches, wallets, the thirty thousand dollar. He boarded early to have a nice view over the other passengers and where their carry-on luggage was stored. The bags, that weren't stored over the rows of their owners, were what he was after. Brass had him confessing fast, but then again, all the stolen items were in his hotel room."

"You can't trust anybody, old people are just as criminal as young ones."

"Unfortunately that's true." Sara cocked her head. "So, when will you fly to Alaska to see the polar bears?"

Sofia laughed. "Probably never. Why?"

"Because you should do it, if you really want to see them. As far as we know, you have only one life, you should do whatever you dream of is you have the chance. Don't waste a dream because you're busy or think, it's too expensive."

"A CSI and a live counselor."

"Two for the price of one, you made a bargain." Sara blinked at the blonde. And maybe she should take her own advice too.


	13. Chapter 13

**13\. Boston brakes**

"Do you think the FBI knows we're here? Knows we're meeting regularly? Observes us?"

"If they do, I bet they're bored doing so, we're not doing anything exciting at all." Sofia said. "We don't even wave into a camera because we have no idea where the camera is. And why would they be interested in observing us? Do you have anything to hide, Sara?"

"A lot, not the FBI should be interested in."

"Big Brother is watching us. And takes control over our cars."

"Yeah, Nick told me about his joyride with the lawyer. It must have been terrifying when the car sped and they couldn't control anything. Imagine, you're sitting in your car and suddenly it takes control over everything."

"Not the car took control over everything, another person did. What was his name? Suvari?"

"Yes. I mean we use the fact that the GPS records where you are and were and the car companies know like every mile you drove, the total observation is already happening, it's not a science fiction story, it's real."

"Cars record where you are, cell phones do too. The GPS of your cell phones tells everybody with the right program, where you are. Sometimes you tell everybody yourself by sending messages, posting pictures. There is no privacy anymore. On our way to here, we have past dozens of CCTV cameras, if your colleagues want, they can track you down by the second you left the lab. It's Big Brother every day. Or Truman show, call it however you want, it's there, it's real and not made up."

"And yet every day hundreds of crimes happen, some of them without witnesses."

"Because there are not cameras everywhere, which is bad for solving crimes and good for living a normal life. I don't want to be on camera 24/7."

"Me neither." Being under permanent surveillance was a reason why Sara liked being outdoors, somewhere away from the city, away from people. Where she could be just herself without anybody watching her.

"This guy, Lansdale, you couldn't arrest him, right?"

"No, we didn't have enough evidence."

"He killed four people to cover up his mistress and son, who he killed too."

"He has a career, a family, the mistress could have made him lose everything. A man like Lansdale needs power, he does everything to keep his power."

"What a sick man, he killed his own son."

"Power is more important than family for some people."

"Apparently. He knows how to cover his traces, has people doing it for him. With his rank and influence, it will be hard to get him, make him fall."

"Not a reason not to try it."

"True. What about Finn and this reporter? What's going on between them?"

"You're asking me? I have no idea and I don't really care. Maybe they were more than friendly a couple of months ago, maybe there was nothing. It's not my place to judge or tell. She gave him a place to hide, when he was announced dead and got in trouble for it."

"The FBI arrested her for it."

"They put more effort into arresting her and DB than in finding out, who hacked the computer in the morgue. Merchiston's dental record was put there by himself, or a friend of his, the faked tox report wasn't. We still have no idea, who put it there."

"The FBI and they won't tell you who exactly and how they got it there."

"No, they demands answers, but never answer questions themselves." Sara grumbled. This was not only unfair, it was highly frustrating.


	14. Chapter 14

**14\. De los muertos**

"My concrete angel." Sofia opened her arms widely. "Let me hug you and your hard as a rock arms."

Sara rose her middle finger.

"What? I heard you were busy working with concrete and freed two bodies out of it. You're a concrete angel."

"Bite me."

"No, you'd probably enjoy it. Are Nick and Doc Robbins back from Mexico?"

"Yes, they arrived an hour ago."

"A long field trip. I bet it was interesting down there."

"And scary. They had a federal agent with them, he was arrested by the local police, who are on the payroll of the drug cartels."

"Shit."

"Yes. The drug cartel had nothing to do with the death of Ana Ortiz, whose father is a friend of Doc Robbins. They made the trip for nothing, the killer was born and bred American."

"Sometimes the solution is closer than you think it is. Her body was found in Mexico, of course they looked for the killer down there."

"Yes, the body was transported there by a truck driver."

"Was he involved?"

"No, he loaded drums to take them to Arquero. When he unloaded it there, one of the drums felt too heavy, he checked, found her body. The police didn't want to have anything to do with a dead American girl."

"No surprise."

"The truck driver dumped her body, called the coroner and that's how it all started. In the end she was killed here and her death was connected to the case Greg and I worked. Claire Marsh and her brother-in-law were killed by the same man."

"And then buried in concrete."

"Yes."

"Who was the killer?"

"A high school teacher, art teacher, who painted Ana, fell in love with her. She didn't respond his feelings, wrote him a letter, that she'd leave him and he poisoned her with thallium."

"When I can't have her, nobody can." Sofia said sadly. It was something, that happened way too often.

"Exactly. Claire, saw the portrait of Ana, said, she looked familiar. Garner, Ana's art teacher, panicked and went to Marsh's house. He shot her and her bother-in-law. By the time we found out about this all, Ana's father had called Garner to his house and was about to kill him. Luckily Russell could stop him."

"Garner killed Ortiz's daughter, there is a part of me, that understands his actions."

"Same here."

"It's illegal anyway. And I take it, Russell convinced him not to kill Garner?"

"Yes."

"Good. He suffers more in prison." Sofia stopped and smiled suddenly. "Have you ever had a portrait of you painted? You know, by one of these people, who stand in the mall, offer their service for a couple of bucks."

"No. You?"

"No. Shall we do it?"

"You can do it, I won't. I don't want nor need a portrait of me."

"I thought more I take yours and you take mine."

"Whatever is wrong in your mind, get it fixed. Soon!" Sara laughed. What the hell should she do with a portrait of the blonde?


	15. Chapter 15

**15\. Love for sale**

"Our Greggo has been to a …"

"…a legal license brothel." Sara completed Sofia's sentence. "And the girls liked him a lot."

"Oh I bet they did, he is a cuties."

"He is."

"Did the mother of the dead girl really sold her daughter to a man?"

"She did not only try to sell her in the brothel to a man, she also killed her. When Debbie ran out, Mrs. Logan got angry and smacked her on the head with a stone. She isn't the real mother of Kirsten and Debbie, the girls were adopted. Mrs. Logan used to be a prostitute and she thought, the girls are not better than herself, so they could go and work the same job she did, when she was their age."

"This is sad."

"It is."

"What did the father say?"

"He's a priest, he saved her back then and he paid five hundred dollars every week to talk to his oldest daughter, Kristen, who worked in the brothel. He had no idea what his wife did, that she sold their oldest daughter when she was fifteen and his daughter never told him."

"Why?"

"We have no idea."

"It's more shocking when a mother sells her daughter than when a father does it."

"Because we believe of special connection between mother and daughter. They weren't blood related and Mrs. Logan never felt any kind of love towards the girls. I doubt she has any love left inside her, not even for herself."

"What happened to the older daughter?"

"She went to the police department to see her father, I hope they'll work this out together."

"They needed the death of Debbie to find back together?"

"Unfortunately people often need something bad happen to them before they realized, they missed something important in their lives."

"What about the man, who Debbie was sold too? He is arrested, isn't he?"

"Yes and in his eyes, he didn't do anything wrong. He said, he thought she's eighteen, which is a lie, we have to prove."

"Hopefully some of the other inmates hear about it and show him, what they think about child abuse." If a sixteen year old girl was still a child for them.

"You're not supposed to say that, deputy chief Curtis."

"Like you don't think the same, CSI Sidle."

"What I think and what I say isn't always the same. I learnt, it's better to keep some thoughts to myself. It's not working out every time, but I'm getting better."

"Don't change, Sara, you're perfect the way you are."

"I'm not perfect, nobody is. We all make mistakes and every day we go to work, we see the mistakes people make. Some of them are bigger, some are fatal and some you can take back or make up for."

"Like selling your daughters to strangers or killing them." Sofia said darkly.


	16. Chapter 16

**16\. Killer move**

"Elvis is really dead?"

"The King is dead, the queen is alive."

"The rook is dead too." Sofia said. "A chess case, how … exciting."

"You don't like chess? Or you can't play it?"

"I'm more an active kind of girl, not sitting around for hours."

"The killer was very active, too active actually. She killed many people, creating a chess match."

"Crazy nerds."

Sara cocked a brow. "You're a nerd too, Sofia."

"Nah, I'm a cool chick."

"Greg is a cool guy and he plays chess, used to be the captain of the chess club. I played with him and he won - by far. It was fun anyway. I think when you don't take the game too seriously you can have a lot of fun."

"When you don't take it serious, you won't win. Miss Carroll took the game deadly serious."

"Why did she kill all these men?"

"Because every time she killed one of them, it felt like she killed her own father. He told her chess wasn't a game for women, it requires, power, intellect, all things women don't have."

"Cave man."

"How many famous female chess player do you know?"

"None. Which doesn't prove his point. Women have better things to do than waste their time sitting in front of a board game for hours. Plus you don't get to meet interesting men there."

"What's wrong with Greg?"

"He quit and I bet that was the time when he became interesting."

"I won't tell him you said that."

"The woman, she was with the chess convention, right?"

"Yes, Carroll presented it in different cities and in each city they had been there were dead people. Twelve cities were on the list, I don't want to think about how many other people might have been killed if we hadn't stopped her."

"I wonder why the other cities didn't work the case properly. Must be because in Vegas the CSIs are the best."

"Of course we are, since we sent the ones who weren't good CSIs back to be cops."

"Hey!" Sofia bopped the brunette. "You are not nice today."

"Cry me a river I try not to drown."

"I wait until the next flood and push you in one of the canals"

"You can be so scary, Sofia. Come on, fight me, but do it on the board. I bought a chess game, let's play. I'm sure you know the rules."

"Under one condition."

"Which one?"

"We play at your or my place and every time you lose a figure, you have to drink a shot. When I lose a figure, I've to drink. This way the game will be much more fun and interesting."

"All you want is getting drunk."

"So? We both have tomorrow off, you want to play chess, I want to have fun. Come on, girls just wanna have fun, now." Sofia sang.

"All right, let's turn chess into a drinking game." Sara rolled her eyes. She better didn't tell Greg about this. About what they were about to do to his former favorite game.


	17. Chapter 17

**17\. Long road home**

"Gene Simmons! This is so cool!" Sofia beamed.

"His signature on a dead body was not exactly what he thought was cool."

"Him being a killer would have been a much cooler story than an accountant. He is sorry for himself that he had been a loser all his life and now he'll be a convicted killer for the rest of his life."

"Surely his fans are very happy his was a witness and not a killer so there can be another KISS album." Sara sat down and smiled at the bartender, who pushed two beers over.

"Do you own any of their albums?"

"As a matter of fact I do. What about you?"

"Me too. I mean, who could live without a copy of 'Destroyer'?"

"Did also wanted to be a rock's roll star?"

"No, that was never my cup of tea. I was in no band in high school and I never wanted to be on stage. I was way too busy doing homework and study so I could be a good cop later. Did you want to be a star?"

"No, I wanted to be a scientist."

"So you are not interested in any of these experience things? You are not interested to be somebody else for a few days? There is no dream you want to come true? Come on Sara, there has to be more to you than a CSI."

"I think being a CSI is pretty cool and besides that, I am not interested in being anything else. I do understand when people want to be a rock star for a night, or order a limo to feel rich for an evening. Why not, it can be fun to act like you're somebody else. But I'm not willing to spend a lot of money for something I am not. And I surely wouldn't kill because somebody was the person I always wanted to be."

"I don't know, to see how somebody else is about to live the life I always dreamed of would be devastating. Especially when the same person had been more successful the whole life than I had been. When he always got what I wanted. Paired with alcohol and drugs it's no wonder Arnold lost his temper."

"You could be his lawyer with this excuse."

"It's not an excuse it's an explanation. He killed two people, he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison."

"He does. I feel sorry for Tangerine, she lost her mother and just when she found her father, he was killed. He could have been her chance for a new life."

"Jim talked to her, told her to get out of the hustling. She must have reminded him of Ellie."

"I guess that's true." Sara finished her beer. "You really never wanted to be a singer?"

"No, why?"

"Because down the road is karaoke night and I'd love to hear you singing and act like a rock star. You could perform an old KISS song, be Gene Simmons."

"I am way too sexy to be Gene Simmons and he's like double my age."

"Who cares? What do you think? Do you want to be a rock'n roll star?"

"Only if you sing too, Sara. When you and I get on stage and sing a song together." First of all Sofia wanted to make sure Sara didn't take a video of her singing and use this one later to blackmail her. Secondly she wanted to see Sara Sidle on stage, acting like a rock queen. The idea of the rather quiet and introvert woman singing and dancing on stage was so crazy, she had to see it.

"Deal, let's give some rock'n roll to Vegas."

You know god gave rock's roll to you?"

"So we can rock'n oll all night and party every day." Sara grinned and got her arm around Sofia's shoulders.


	18. Chapter 18

**18\. Uninvited**

"So did you hear about the case they caught last week?" Sofia asked when Sara sat down next to her. They were in a small park, having some water after their run. A few days ago they decided it was more fun to go out for runs together instead of each of them running alone after or before work.

"Yes, Greg told me about it. A family vanishes."

"Actually they didn't vanish, first they hit and then they were killed. Brass told me about the daughter, told me how she suddenly changed and when I saw the video of the interview, I had a sudden déjà vu experience: Carrie."

"Stephen King's Carrie?"

"Yes. You can say what you want, this girl has killed her mother and brother."

"And why would she have done so?"

"The brother killed her father, who had an affair and the mother killed the mistress. The mistress killed the family dog as a threat to the father. So the mother kills her, they decided to let the body vanish and then vanish all together. As their perfect alibi they use the homeless guy from the shopping center, an ex con. Really a good choice, he was the prime suspect right away and nobody really believed his story."

"Because the story he told was too weird to be true."

"By now we should have learnt that the weirdest stories are often true while the nicely put together stories, that work out perfectly, are all lies."

"You are right." Sara leant back in the grass and closed her eyes. Her pulse slowly got back to normal. She was so out of training.

"Anyway, nobody asked the daughter what she wants or thinks, she complained about it when she talked to Brass. The others make the decision, decide to end the life she knew and loved. Then her brother kills their father. For whatever reason. Maybe because he cheated on his mother, maybe because the brother had an affair with the mistress as well. We don't know yet. And in between this chaos is Heather and at blames them all for losing her life."

"I don't like this name." Sara mumbled.

Irritated for a second Sofia looked at the brunette before she put one and one together. She decided it was better not to comment on this.

"The family told Adamson they go out for a movie and this was exactly what Heather told Brass her mother and brother said before they vanished."

"Back then people vanished when they went out for a pack of cigarettes." Sara said.

"Yes. The really scary part is the change of voice of Heather in the end of the interview. And how her eyes change. I tell you, this girl is a Carrie."

"Surely there will be evidence to support this."

"So far they haven't found anything in the hotel room and we have no chance to find the two missing people in a two hundred acre area."

"No, she might get away with murder." When there were no bodies nobody could be convicted with murder. And it was very possible the bodies of the two missing family members would never been found. Hell, Sara didn't want to know how many bodies were buried in national parks and deserts all over the country. She was aware that there were more than one murderer walking around free.


	19. Chapter 19

**19\. The fallen**

Today neither Sara nor Sofia felt like going to a pub or the park for a run. They met at Sofia's place without having talked about this before. The second Sofia opened the door for Sara - who came straight from hospital - she pulled the brunette into a hug and they held each other for a couple of seconds.

"Are you okay?" Sara whispered.

"I'm not injured. How are you?"

"I'm not injured."

"Come in." Sofia closed the door behind Sara and they walked into the living room.

"How is DB?"

"He's not injured but he's shocked. I think it's less being in the room with the armed boy than seeing how the boy was shot by the police."

"They had to shoot him?"

"He reached inside his vest and nobody knew what was inside. It could have been another gun, we knew about at least two guns, it was a threat and therefore a clean shot. Nobody was to blame. Even if all he wanted to get out was a medal of Saint Christopher."

"The patron saint of travelers. I had one of them in my car many years ago."

"I didn't know you believe in this."

"I don't but somebody I cared for did and asked me to keep it. I did until one day I forgot about it. Sofia, I can't believe I stayed with Deborah and I fell for her. I fell for her act, for her tears, the allegation for herself."

"You had no way of knowing she set Mark up to do this."

"She manipulated a teenage boy into walking into a police station and open the fire. She used a mental unstable boy as a killer, because she wanted to get rid off her husband. Instead of a divorce she went for murder - and killed another police officer as well, injured many more."

"I worked with her, I had no idea she was capable of doing something like this." Sofia took Sara's hand. "Believe me, I'm doubting myself. How can I be a good cop when I don't recognize a killer within my on PD?"

"Because we can't look inside the heads of other people."

"No, we can't."

Sara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was always harder when it hit home or was close to home.

"This will change a lot for us. I mean not only are two officers dead, it showed how vulnerable we are in our own department." Sofia said.

"Security standards will be higher from today on. Maybe with a metal detector at the entrance so people can't walk in armed anymore."

"In a case like today Deborah would have left guns for Mark somewhere. You can't be one hundred percent safe."

"No, there's always a risk, but you can try to keep it as low as possible."

"It might have saved a life." Sofia's hand found Sara's. "I'm glad you came over."

"I'm glad you are here. I didn't want to be alone, needed somebody to talk. Or to be there."

"Same here. Thanks for being here."

"Can we just … be together? I think I'm done talking for today."

"Sure, I get us something to drink and we just be together." Sofia smiled and got up. Sometimes all you needed was company and not a conversation.


	20. Chapter 20

**20\. Consumed**

"I'm so glad I'm a vegetarian." Sara put the plate with the salad in front of her.

"I think I might become one as well." Sofia put the plate with her own salad on the table and shook herself with disgust when she saw a man eating raw meat on the table next to them. This guy surely hadn't heard of their cannibal killer.

"All the animals will be grateful." Sara smiled thinly.

"Yeah." Sofia stabbed a tomato. "Do you think Todd was the killer?"

"There is evidence pointing in this direction."

"The witness said 'The Eater' didn't look like Todd. What if the true killer is still outside?"

"Then we'll get another case like the last ones, I'm afraid."

"Not if these people were killed to create a myth."

"Which would mean Todd was the killer and not the man Korlov described." Sara said.

"True. Unless the man described doesn't exist. Did you realize a lot of people describe the bad guys in a physical poor condition? We have met plenty of killer who looked like anybody else. Worse, most of the serial killer and psychopaths look like your neighbor."

"We won't know until we get more evidence and after Ecklie closed the case against DB's will, we are not supposed to continue working on it."

"Yeah, Ecklie did what he had to do as the Sheriff and he didn't decide like a scientist he once used to be."

"Politics, Mrs. Deputy Chief."

"Don't start it like this, Sara." Sofia sighed. "You know I'm on your side."

"Yes, I do. Sorry." Sara placed her hand for a second on Sofia's. "People do a lot of things I don't understand, but why would you want anybody to eat a piece of your body? Why offer somebody your flesh?"

"Really? You ask me this over dinner?"

"It's why we're eating vegetarian food today."

"Great, thanks. I can't tell you, I surely don't want anybody to gnaw on me nor do I want to eat the flesh of another human being."

"There was a whole group of people who pretended to eat from a dead man. It's hard to understand why you want to eat your food off a person who is alive and lies on the table, but to dine from a corpse? It's sick."

"We know a lot of people are sick and whenever there are sick people, there are other people, who make money with this. Like Colleen Waring, who stuffed a camera into her throat to give people the feeling she was eating them. She made some good money with this and it might not be too different from stripping in front of the camera."

"This city never stops to surprise you, doesn't it?" Sara asked. "I mean I've been here now over fourteen years and it's like people come up with weirder and crazier things every year. It makes you wonder if there's a limit, if we ever reach an end."

"My guess is we won't." Sofia sipped her beer. "People will always kill each other and they will always do it in different ways, for different reasons. It's why we'll never be out of work."

"Which is good for us and bad for the city."

"Yes. And I really hope Todd was the cannibal, I don't want anybody else to be eaten by whoever."

"Me neither. I don't want anybody killed." But as they had established only seconds earlier, that was a wish, which would never be granted. As long as there were people in Las Vegas, as long they had to investigate and solve murder cases.


	21. Chapter 21

**21\. Kitty**

"Do you have a social media page?"

"One? Dozens." Sara rolled her eyes. Was Sofia serious? She, having a social media page. This was ridiculous.

"Right, you are a social butterfly. I bet you're in a million groups and chat every free second with dozens of people from all over the world."

"You got me."

"I knew it." Sofia laughed. "You know I do have a social media page."

"Really?"

"Yes, not under my name, not with a picture of me, but I do have a page to stay in contact with people from school, colleague. It's easier to stay in contact this way."

"No, it's being in contact. You see and read what people do, but you are not in contact unless you write to them regularly. Like you are not in contact with people who walk pass your window every day just because you see them. Being in contact, being friend with somebody is more than watching the other person what he or she is doing. Interacting means you talk, you hear the voice, you are eye to eye. There is nothing personal on a chat. You don't see the other one, you don't hear the other one. It could be somebody else pretending it's your friend and you won't know until the other person blows the cover by not knowing a detail your friend would know."

"You have a way to ruin the joy in harmless things."

"Most times these pages are harmless but as the last case has showed us, these pages can be very dangerous too."

"True." Sofia paused for a second. "Some of my friends have photos of their kids online, I told them it's not a good idea but they insist it's okay because only friends can see their photos."

"Even if this is true - and we both know every half talented hacker can get into a private page - you shouldn't upload photos of children. They don't know what you're doing, they have no idea about possible threats and they'll think it's normal and cool to post photos and will do the same later."

"When I see children with tablets and smart phones I wonder if this is really a good idea. Sure, these gadgets belong to our society nowadays but besides all the possible danger we just more or less mentioned and I know we didn't say pedophiles get their hands on these photos too and use meetings to kidnap children, what happened to playing with friends? Play tag, hide and seek or an old-fashioned board game. You see more and more parents and children hide behind their phones and less and less interacting. No phone can give you what your parents' attention gives you." Not that Sara knew much about positive attention of parents, not from her own experience.

"I totally agree with you and I enjoy the fact we meet for real, not via a chat program or on the phone. Talking to you face to face is good, makes me happy."

"Thank you." Sara smiled. "I enjoy our meetings too. We've done this for such a long time, I can't imagine not to meet you after a big case and talk to you."

"So you'd click LIKE under my photo?"

Sara laughed. "Depends on the photo. Will it be you in uniform?"

"Nah, me in a bikini."

"Now we're back to porn on the internet."

"I take it as a compliment that a photo of me in my bikini is as good as porn. It must mean I'm very sexy." Sofia grinned and gave Sara a hug. Tonight she'd check her page and make sure there were no information she didn't want out in the world wide web.


	22. Chapter 22

**22\. Dead in his tracks**

"I'm so sorry for Jim." Sara said sadly.

"Me too." Sofia leant next to her friend. "My mother is a cop, I know it's not easy on a child when your mother or father is away all the time, to catch bad guys and whatever else they tell you when you're kids. To you it only feels like you're not important enough to spend time with, that bad guys are more important than the only daughter."

"I'm sorry." Sara knew Sofia's childhood hadn't been perfect, she didn't know anybody with a perfect childhood.

"Don't be. After all I became a cop too. I mean, I don't have a child, probably never will have one, but my childhood didn't scare me away from police work."

"Or you became a cop because it was the only thing you knew."

"Also possible. I admit it was cool to tell the other kids my mom catches bad guys, that I could picture her as a heroine. And she had guns, which was always cool for kids."

"Yeah, until you realize how dangerous they really are, you are fascinated by them."

"You know what else fascinates me?"

"What?"

"Bishop. I read how he worked twenty-five years ago, how far ahead of time he was, he is a true scientist."

"Yes, I was amazed as well. He did some really great work and he … I guess when you turn in your own daughter, you really a law-obedient man."

"Or a father who realized his daughter has killed two people."

"Which must have broken his heart. First she suffocates Scotty accidentally and buries him with her friends and then she shoots a man over the statue because money is more important than a man's life. He was able to excuse the first murder, but the second one must have been too much."

"The second one wasn't an accident, the second one was murder." Sofia said.

"Yes, it was. She not only lost her freedom, she also lost her father."

"Do you think he'll turn away from her?"

"I don't know but he will never look at her the same."

"I hope Jim and Ellie can have a fresh start, that she isn't just playing him. I'm sorry to say so but I don't trust her."

"Me neither and I feel bad about it too." Sara confessed. "Especially for Jim, he really wants a fresh start, Ellie is all he has left."

"It might change his priorities in life." Sofia said carefully.

"You mean he might quit his job to be with her?"

"Possible." The blonde didn't want to think of this, she couldn't imagine LVPD without Jim Brass, but sometimes you had to make decisions that changed your life. And when Jim wanted to be with his daughter, there was no way he could be a police captain as well. You needed a steady life for a family - especially when everything had been as complicated as it had been between Jim and Ellie.

"LVPD won't be the same without him."

"The lab wasn't the same when you left."

"I came back."

"Yes, you did and I'm really glad you did." Sofia took Sara's hand. "Come on, let's go for a run before I turn all sensitive and need your arms for a good cry."

"That would be a horrible thought, yes." Sara pulled Sofia in her arms and gave her a good hug. Maybe their old team was breaking up more and more but she was sure, she and Sofia had a friendship, that would give them both the strength to carry on.


	23. Chapter 23

**1\. The CSI effect**

"You are aware of the fact this serial killer is not good for my reputation." Sofia greeted Sara.

"I am not really interested in your reputation. I care more for getting a lunatic into prison."

"A ghost from the past. We do know a thing or two about this."

"We don't know about having a serial killer stalking our daughter because we don't have a daughter. We had them come after us, that's different. The crime scene really looked like we have processed it. He did do his homework about how we work." It reminded Sara a little bit of the miniature killer. The crime scenes had been creepy too with the perfect miniature match.

"Did you see him? Briscoe?" Sofia asked.

"The Gig Harbor Killer. No. I did see the bodies of the last three victims of the Gig Harbor Killer. Tell me how is it possible that the victims of a killer, who is prison, suddenly show up? And his fingerprint as well."

"He stated he lost his finger in a prison fight. Might be a lie and he sent it to whoever is doing his job now." Sofia suggested.

"Yeah. The twins might be playing us."

"Might?"

"The evidence from Seattle is clear about who is the killer. The problem is, the evidence in Las Vegas says they are both innocent. So we have to find out who is lying or if both are telling the truth."

"We do know whoever is behind this is serious. Deadly serious."

"Right." Sofia said sadly. "How is Finn?"

"She's playing the tough one, but she has been in the car, was left behind from the bomb squad because they pronounced her as good as dead, the bomb was stopped the last second. Nobody can just walk away from that. I know a thing or two about being the toy of a psychopath. In fact I've been there twice."

"Nathalie and Basderic." Sofia took Sara's hand.

"Yes, so I can understand Russell. He wants his family safe and we all know, if the psychopath who is responsible for the crime scenes is after Maya, she is at risk; no matter where she is now."

"I know. I also know Ecklie is not happy about the new evidence, that makes it look like Briscoe is innocent."

"Ecklie can kiss my ass. If we're dealing with a copycat killer, this guy is not only pretty good in leaving perfectly worked crime scenes behind, he'll also be capable of manipulating evidence."

"I know and soon the whole city will know, which means there will be a lot of scared people."

"Politics will make our life more difficult."

"They will and I'm afraid to a certain degree I will be a part of this because it's my job. It doesn't mean I don't believe you guys are doing the best possible job, I know you're the best, but it's my job and no matter if I like it or not, I have to put some pressure on you."

"Which means I won't like to spend time with you."

"Can we keep work and private life separated?"

"We never do, we always talk about work when we meet."

"We also talk about us, about how we feel. There are things you have told me I'd never mention when we're at work. So, can we get through this together? Without fights?"

"The least we can do is try to get through without a fight. I promise I'm not getting too bitchy when you do your job."

"And I promise to give you as much freedom as possible." Sofia shook Sara's hand. They had a deal and hopefully they were able to keep it.


	24. Chapter 24

**2\. Buzz Kill**

"You can get so angry and scary sometimes." Sofia smiled.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw the video of you and Remy, the way you got into his face, you scared me."

"It didn't scare him enough. Science had to solve the case for us."

"Luckily you are pretty good with evidence too."

"Hodges and Morgan were pretty good. Hodges has always been pretty good with poop."

"You are so sarcastic sometimes, it's sometimes I really like about you." Sofia grinned.

"Our job makes us sarcastic because we can't slap the people, we can only take their statements."

"That's my Sara. What's the deal about Finn?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. She's not in Seattle for vacation, she is up to something."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, deputy chief Curtis."

"Sara, I'm not talking as the deputy chief, I'm talking to you as your friend. Is Finn safe?"

"She said she is, we have to trust her."

"There was some trouble with her in Seattle…"

"There was also some trouble with me in Las Vegas a few years ago."

"I remember that as I've been in the middle. But okay, it's not my business what she's doing up there and I hope it won't become my business. Back to the case. Do you know how Lloyed is?"

"Devastated. His wife is a killer and she tried to steal money from him."

"I wonder if he really had no idea about it."

"The way he acted, I don't think so."

"Two people had to die, one innocent woman. All Alison wanted to do was safe her brother, she wasn't armed, she was no threat."

"The security guard had no way knowing this, she could have been trying to get a gun. He shot once, it was not his fault."

"A few more inches to the left and she might have survived."

"It was not his fault."

"No. Dina offered Russell money to look the other way." Sara said.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, she said she had a lot of money and she'd give him half of it. I know there are some law enforcement members, who would happily look away for some extra money, but you have to be very cold to just offer this to somebody. She also believes when she comes back, the money is still there."

"It won't be and she will never come back. She shot a man and committed various other crimes."

"In her mind she won."

"Maybe she'll try to bribe some people in prison to get out, I wouldn't be too surprised." Sofia finished her beer. "Come on, let's go to the Thai restaurant down the block. My treat."

"How comes?"

"Only because I'm glad you closed the case, are fine and you trust me."

"Okay." Sara smiled. "A happy ending for the day is nice, I can use it."

"We always need a happy ending. Sometimes we're lucky enough to get it." Sofia opened the door for Sara. She was happy they could talk and were there for each other.

 **3\. Bad Blood**

"I thought I have lost you."

"You won't get rid off me this easily."

"I don't want to get rid off you." Sofia pulled Sara in her arms. "Are you feeling better?"

"As good as new."

"You're such a bad liar."

"It was not a virus, it was just fever."

"This time. I want you to be more careful."

"You know the protocol, I can't go to a crime scene wearing a suit."

"Maybe you should at least wear a face protection."

"Nothing happened." Sara took Sofia's hand. She had been through enough fear for today and she knew from today on she would worry about diseases and viruses when she approached a dead body; especially in a closed room.

"You have to stop scaring me."

"It's not like I want all these things to happen."

"No, you don't plan these things to happen. Unlike Rudi, he wanted these things to happen, he had studied to become an employee of the company, to have the chance to get his hands on the virus so he could infect Jack Weaver."

"All he wanted was payback for his family."

"A part of me can understand him." Sofia said quietly.

"Maybe in a few days I can understand him too, at the moment there is not much sympathy for him inside me."

"No, he put you through hell."

"And it's not a nice thing to say because it could have been deadly, but it was good to have Greg around. He helped a lot."

"You've been through the whole virus thing for the second time, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes, we had to take a decontamination shower a couple of years ago. How do you know?"

"I read your file, Sara."

"Okay." Sara saved herself the question why Sofia read her file, she just took it as it was.

"Greg and you are a big help for each other, I'm glad you have each other."

"He's like a brother and I'm not sure I could do all these cases without him."

"I'm sure you were an inspiration for him to become a CSI."

"Which put him through a lot too." Sara remembered how she kneed next to her friend, held his hand after he had been attacked.

"The team has been through a lot."

"Yes." Sara took a deep breath. "I'm glad there are no more infections."

"Two people died, Rudi will face court for this, as a lawyer he knew what he was risking."

"He deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life. He killed two people and endangered many, many more."

"It could have been a major outbreak."

"Yes."

"And even if hadn't been, if you had died it would have felt like an outbreak."

"Don't get sentimental, Sofia."

"Sorry, but it's true. I like you too much to lose you." Sofia pulled Sara in her arms. She didn't want to worry about her friend, didn't want to fear something could happen to her. It was the downside of friendship: you worried about the other person, put yourself into pain this way but a true friendship was worth the pain.


	25. Chapter 25

**4\. The book of shadows**

"Would you kill to save your child?"

"I don't have a child - as you know - so it's a hard question to ask." Sofia stabbed the carrot with her knife. "I can imagine a mother does whatever it takes to save her child. When your child is diagnosed with a deadly disease you want to do whatever is possible to save him. The ordinary medical treatment didn't work anymore, so you are trying something else."

"Kill to save your child. Kill somebody else's child."

"Fight or die."

"Yes."

"Would you?" Sofia asked.

"I'm not sure but I have no idea what I do when I'm desperate. When Nathalie kidnapped me and left me under the car to die, somehow I got the strength to get out, I walked through the desert in the heat and somehow I survived. Also thanks to you. Before you saved me my body came up with a power I never had before or afterwards. So I believe you never truly know what you're capable of until you are in this special situation."

"I think you're right. We have our limits but under certain circumstances we break these limits."

"Yes."

"Do you believe in spells or anything like this?"

"I believe when you believe in these things it can work out because you do everything so it works out. But I don't believe they can heal cancer or make you find a million dollar. It's all in your own work, when you do more to achieve a goal, you're more likely to get where you want to be."

"I like to believe in good spirits but whenever there is good there is bad too."

"I'm afraid so."

"Do you think Mason will survive?"

"I have no idea, I hope he does but it doesn't look good for him. Now he has lost his mother, his last family member."

"It's very kind of the neighbors to take him in although they haven't been friends in many years. This could be a new chance for both of them. From what I read, Hannah has her own problems and her life isn't as wonderful and easy as it always seems."

"A lot of people pretend to be happier than they are because society wants us to be happy."

"Are you happy, Sara?"

"There were times when I was happier and there were times when I was not as happy as I am today. It's kind of a balance at the moment. What about you, Sofia?"

"I'm happy where my job is taking me, I could be happier in my private life. But having said that, I'm happier since we meet and talk."

"Your boyfriend doesn't make you happy?"

"He does, yes, but what we have is different. You understand my problems because of work and he doesn't. He lives in a different world, I have to explain most things, with you I can just talk because you know what I mean."

"That was almost romantic." Sara smiled.

"Don't make fun of me, Sara Sidle."

"Sorry. I like talking to you too, Sofia."

"Good." Sofia rose her glass. "To us."

Sara also rose her glass. "To us."

 **5\. Girls gone wilder**

"I'm so glad you are okay." Sofia pulled Sara in her arms and pulled her closer. "You have no idea how much I worried. Why are you always getting into situations like this? Do I have to stay by your side all the time only to make sure nothing happens to you?"

"Maybe it would be a good idea." Sara closed her eyes and stayed in Sofia's arms. It had been close, way too close. Again. Again she had a gun in her face, again she had been threatened to be killed by somebody from her past. Ballard, a former CSI, who she had helped to send to prison by uncovering his work was not correct.

"It certainly looks like it to me. I'm not going to give you the speech about wandering around a scene without police protection, the hotel was closed-down, there was police everywhere and officially the shooter had been shot."

"Thank you."

"But I have to consider becoming a detective again so I can be with you when you're at a scene."

"All you want is to have fun."

"We did have some fun, you're right. Every time you weren't bitchy we had fun."

"I was never bitchy."

"Hah, that's a sweet little lie." Sofia let Sara out of her arms. "So you know doctor Jane Snyder."

"Unfortunately, yes I do."

"She's a bitch in court."

"She helps to set guilty people free. It was because of her work that made Jess shoot today. I don't blame her for him shooting, he decided it himself, he pulled the trigger, but if she would have worked the way she was supposed to be, the way she had been taught, thirteen people would be alive today."

"We can't her for what he did, but she has a part of it, yes. It's like selling alcohol to people and complaining about all the drunks."

"Yeah."

"The last time you, Finn and Morgan went away Finn almost gets killed, same for you, the bullet got you, you were only lucky to survive. I don't think it's a good idea when you girls go somewhere together."

"Shall I go away with you?" Sara cocked her head. She knew Sofia was right, she, Finn and Morgan seemed to have bad luck when it came to their off work plans.

"Nothing ever happened to you when I was with you."

"We never went somewhere together."

"Maybe we should give it a try."

"What will your boyfriend say about that?"

"He has no problems when I spend a day or two with a friend. We have a very mature relationship." Sofia didn't need to ask what Grissom would say about a trip of them. She knew Sara and Grissom were separated and it didn't matter what he said or thought. Or Sara wanted to believe this herself.

"Are there any other men who might want to kill you? Have a beef with you?"

"Not that I know of."

"Good. I don't want to worry about you anymore."

"Believe me, I would rather not have guns pointed at me." Sara didn't want to be the one, who had crazy and criminal people coming after her. Unfortunately it was a side effect of her job. The bad guys remembered who helped to put them away and some of them wanted revenge.

 **6\. The twin paradox**

"We got ourselves one sick serial killer. Or worse, we got two and only one of them is arrested while the other one is a wealthy son of a bitch. And he has a personal beef with Russell." Sara sat on the small chair at the coffee house and stabbed the heart the barrister made in her cappuccino foam.

"Stabbed through the heart, he made this for you to cheer you up, to flirt a little bit. And right now you can use something nice and cheerful in your life." Sofia smiled at her latte. There were small chocolate sprinkles on top of her foam.

"I have you in my life for happiness."

"You do? Thanks for the compliment."

"You deserve it." Sara smiled lightly at Sofia.

"How is Greg?"

"Shocked. He tried to help the woman, she attacks him with an iron bar, takes his gun, points it at him and wants to shoot him. If Finn hadn't shot her, he might be dead." Sara swallowed hard. It had broken her heart to see Greg in the locker room, how he blamed himself that he couldn't save the woman and didn't care what she did to him. Or he."

"I always want to take him in my arm and tell him everything is going to be all right when something happens to him." Sofia confessed.

"Me too. We spoke for a while, he didn't want to join us, wanted to go home. I hope he is not alone."

"Morgan?"

"They are not together, they are friends. Which is a shame, I so wish for him to find somebody who makes him happy and understands the job."

"The job is a big problem, we all know this."

"Yes."

"And Finn?"

"She knows she did what she had to do. She saved Greg's life."

"What about Carrie?"

"She is in hospital, needs further treatment. He had her for six weeks, it's a miracle she is alive."

"We have no idea what she has been through."

"No. We have no evidence pointing towards Winthrope, quite contrary the evidence we found at the crime scene where Greg was attacked suggests the woman was the Gig Harbor Killer when she was a man. I don't buy it, nobody in the lap does but what are we supposed to do when we can't trust the evidence? Our whole work bases on the fact that the evidence never lies." Grissom had told them this many times.

"Unless the evidence was plant by somebody. Then you have to find evidence that your evidence is lying." Sofia said.

"This guy or these guys know how to play. And we also know the killer has a new partner. There were two sets of footsteps on the tape."

"Basically we've two serial killers in town. Just when you think it can't get worse, it gets worse."

"I'm afraid so." Like Sara was afraid there would be more dead young women and that the case would become even more personal for DB than it was already. Sometimes the past comes into your present and ruins your future. Sara hoped this wasn't the case for her boss.

* * *

Merry Christmas to everybody who celebrates already on the 24th.

And happy holidays to everybody who has nothing to do with Christmas but still has a couple of days off.

And of course all the best to the people who are working while so many others celebrate.


	26. Chapter 26

**7\. Road to recovery**

"A drink? Since when do you have whiskey when we meet?" Sofia asked surprised.

"I talked to Greg about the last case, as I had a few days off, and he told me about this rehab place that looks more like a hotel than a clinic."

"And you figured you get yourself an addiction and check into this special hotel for a couple of weeks?"

"Only if you pay the bill. You do get a very lovely hotel room for the price of the rooms there."

"I think, I stop you from getting an addict. Saves me the money, you the work of getting sober and gives us the chance to work together." Sofia took the whiskey out of Sara's hands and finished it with one gulp. Afterwards she shivered in disgust. "Yuck! I can't drink this stuff anymore. Guess I'm not twenty-one anymore."

"You just finished my whiskey."

"I saved you from becoming an addict. If you want to stay in a nice room in the hills go to a hotel. Gosh, this stuff is really strong, my throat is burning and my stomach feels like I've swallowed a rock of lava."

Sara laughed. "You won't end in rehab because of whiskey abuse. What would be your addiction of choice?"

"Work."

"Tell me about it." Sara signed the bartender to bring them two new whiskeys. "Do you think places like that one are better than a normal clinic?"

"I don't know. You get pampered and live like a queen. Rehab is hard work, why not life in a nice place when you have to work hard? But it should be only for people who want to overcome their personal devil. From what I read about the victim, she had no intentions to change. It's nice her husband was willing to pay so much money, I can understand he wanted to try everything but you can't help people if they don't want any help."

"He'll go to prison for attempt murder."

"He's not denying it and he's a very good example why people shouldn't take the law in their own hands. Adam was innocent, although it looked different first. It's why we have to work all of the evidence, why we need trials to find out who really did it. Zach confessed more or less of killing her although he couldn't remember doing it. The real killer kept quiet and hidden."

"Len killed her because he was afraid she'd make him drink again. He was afraid he'd lose his children over the bottle of whiskey. Now he has lost them over killing a woman and that's worse than being an addict." Sara said.

"Yes, he got himself into bigger trouble. I can't understand why she wasn't sent home. When it was obvious she didn't want to work on her problems."

"She brought them money, a lot of money. And it's not good for your reputation when you send patients home because they are too difficult."

"Having them killed by another patient makes your reputation not better."

"No." Sara nodded to the bartender who put the whiskeys in front of them.

"You really want me to drink another?"

"We take call a cab. Try to drink it slowly this time, you are not twenty-one anymore."

"Well, thanks."

"You do look like it."

"Better." Sofia blinked at her friend. "Cheers to you."

"Cheers to you and to us for looking after us. It's good to have you with me, Sofia."

"It's good to be with you, Sara."

 **8\. Rubbery homicide**

"I always thought dolls are a kind of creepy."

"I loved my dolls - especially the police dolls." Sofia smiled. "Greg went into the club all these dolls hang out? I can't really picture him there. Although, I bet he was an eye catcher, a cute guy like him."

"He did got the attention of everybody when he chased a man, or woman, or doll. I don't know what to call them."

"I think doll works okay. I can't imagine to wear such a suit for hours."

"I can't imagine wearing such a suit at all. If you don't feel comfortable in your skin why wear rubber all over your body?"

"Why do people were costumes on carnival?"

"Don't ask me, I never got that either. I mean, I know the historical reasons for it, but I don't understand why people like to dress up for days. One night as a cowboy, a pirate or whatever, especially for kids is fun, but a whole body costume you wear like two or three times a week?"

"It's fun, I love dressing up for carnival, even went to Rio once to have the real carnival feeling."

"You're so crazy."

"I like to experience different things in life and I try to enjoy life despite all the bad things I come across when I'm at work. Or because I come across all those bad things. We need something that gives us hope, fun and reasons to carry on, which means, we have to be crazy once in a while to stay sane."

"Because we are more than law enforcement."

"Yes, you're so much more than a CSI, I'm more than a deputy chief. I've seen so many different angles of you the last years, you're an amazing woman and I'm sure what I've seen so far was only the tip of the iceberg."

Sara smiled. "Most likely. We all have little secrets. Like Brock had a secret life as more or less his own dead wife. He kept her alive by wearing this suit."

"I'm not sure it's normal."

"It's not what the majority of the people do, does it makes it any less normal? He didn't hurt anybody."

"His daughter thought different."

"He cancelled her birthday party to pretend to be his wife. I can understand she was disappointed, especially when she didn't like her mother."

"She called her a tyrant."

"Believe me, I know what it's like to have a dominant mother, yet I wouldn't kill her. I did think about it a few times, but in the end I love her even when she drives me crazy."

"I'm sure this goes for both of you."

"April wanted to kill her father because he loved his wife more than his children. Or she thought he did. She was so full of hate, she didn't care about the fact she'd lose both of her parents."

"I guess in her world she had lost them both."

"And then she killed an innocent man, who had stolen the rubber doll from her father."

"When her father told her she reminded him so much of her mother, it had been the worst he could have told her."

"Well, you don't have to hate your mother to hate this statement. I don't want to be told I'm so much like my mother."

"Me neither." Sara said quietly. That was like her mother was one of her biggest fears. Had been for years and it took a while until she understand, she was who she was: Sara and not her mother.

 **9\. Let's make a deal**

"You missed a case in jail."

"I can't say I'm sorry about that. My week of vacation was nice. I surfed dozens of waves every day." Sara had been to Hawaii for a week, a vacation she had been waiting for for a long time. And a timeout she needed.

"I bet it was much better. Did Greg tell you about the case?"

"No, we did talk but we never talked about work."

"Good girl."

"It's not easy but you have to draw a line between vacation and work. I did have a short look at the case when I was back in the lab last night. It almost makes you feel sorry for the killer."

"The victim, Grady, molested him as a child, he raped him. Because he was working for the FBI his charges were reduced and he might have gotten out. McRone saw Grady, remembered what he did to him and snapped."

"You sound a little bit like a defensive lawyer."

"If McRone had a real defensive lawyer he would have never been where he was." Sofia said.

"He left his two-year old child alone to get his drunken wife out of the bar. From what we know he is a good father."

"Until he killed his rapist. And no, I can't really blame him for it. Grady ruined McRone's life. I don't say it's all right what McRone did, but I can understand the anger and the hate."

"Me too, yet he committed a crime. He killed somebody and it's what he'll be charged for. The jury might have sympathy for him when they hear the story, when they learn what happened twenty years ago, it won't save him from prison. And it shouldn't save him from being punished because you are not allowed to take the law in your own hands."

"I know. What will happen to Brenner?"

"Mister Homicide? I never liked this guy, he was way too smooth. He won't work as a cop anymore and I'm afraid thanks to him there'll be a couple of criminals walking free. It's a bunch of work we'll have to face, try to convince judges the right people were convicted."

"And the prison guard from the laundry will also have to face criminal charges."

"Yes, he took money from inmates. It's sad to see how many people are involved in crime when they are actually working for law enforcement."

"Law enforcement people are involved in crimes every day, but we're not supposed to commit these crimes, we're supposed to prevent them."

"Which I think dirty cops or any dirty law enforcement members should be punished harder than criminals. They can ruin a lot of cases and make civilians not trusting in their law system."

"Sometimes I wonder if it hadn't been easier to become something else. Maybe a teacher."

"Yeah, you're just the patient kind of woman who can put up with a bunch of crazy students." Sofia laughed.

"What would have been your second choice?"

"I was a CSI, which was a job I never wanted. Besides law enforcement? I don't know, I never really thought about it as it had always been clear I'd work law enforcement one day."

"I can see you as a surf instructor."

"You spent too much time in the Hawaiian sun. I don't even surf."

"Give it a try, I'm sure you'll like it." And Sara was sure Sofia looked good on a surfboard. Maybe one day they could ride some waves together.


	27. Chapter 27

**10\. Dead rails**

"You're up for a game?" Sara held up the queue up.

"I haven't played pool in ages."

"Are you afraid of losing?"

"What are we playing for?"

"Usually I'd say for fun but this is Las Vegas and you don't do games for fun here."

"What are you suggesting? Are we playing for money or for clothes?" Sofia grinned.

"This is a public bar, when you lose all your clothes it's a crime."

"What makes you think it's me who loses all her clothes?"

"It doesn't matter, we won't play for clothes. How about for dinner? The winner chooses."

"Not as much fun as for clothes but the best we can do here."

"I had no idea you want me to lose my clothes." Sara said amused.

"Would be a personal pleasure. Payback for old things you did to me."

"You're still holding those old things against me?"

"If it's any fun for me, yes." Sofia took the queue. "I break first. Three matches, who wins two first is the winner. Get prepared for an expensive evening, my dear."

"From deputy chief to hustler within seconds. Wow." Sara leant back and watched Sofia break. One ball went straight into the pocket. "Guess it's my turn again."

"You mentioned you played pool before. When?"

"College. It was a nice way to spend the evening." Another ball vanished into a pocket. "I could make some money." Another ball was gone. "And met interesting guys." Ball number four was gone. "Who learnt it's more important to be good with what you do and not with how you say you want to do something." The next ball missed the pocket only by an inch. "Your turn."

"Wow, you know what you're doing."

"I do."

"So you played for money." Sara hit the ball and it went straight into a pocket. "Did you scam the guys too? Pretended to be an innocent woman who barely knew a thing about pool?" The next ball was gone. "Only to take their money?" Now Sara missed.

"Sometimes. I had a friend who was good, we worked tables together. Like your killer, but we never killed anybody. And we didn't sleep with any of the guys. It was all about the money."

"Mary and Zoe found a way to make a lot of money with pool without playing it. I bet Zoe's husband wasn't happy about his wife sleeping with other men."

"He used her for his scams but never let the other men win. Mary needed Zoe to sleep with the other men so they could take photos and make them pay. Jimmy found out about these things, wanted them to end it and Mary didn't want to lose her easy access to money."

"Must have been a shock for her when he was on the road. She buried him and he came back, like a zombie."

"I bet it was."

"We should have noticed earlier he was hit from behind on the wrong side of the road. I wonder how we could have missed that."

"Nobody is perfect." Sofia hit her last ball and grinned. "Ready to lose for the first time tonight?"

"The next game I break and we'll see if you get lucky again."

"Remember, we play for food not for sex, I can't get lucky." Sofia grinned and shot the ball into the pocket. "Otherwise you'd be as good as naked now."

"I know why I insisted of playing for food." Sara laughed. The next game she'd do better. Sofia wouldn't win this easily.


	28. Chapter 28

**11\. Angle of attack**

"Would you like to fly like a bird?"

"No, I feel very comfortable on solid ground. You?"

"I don't want to fly with a fly suit, maybe a parachute but basically I'm like you, I prefer solid ground." Sofia said.

"It must be a hell of a thrill when you fly with over two hundred miles per hour over mountains or buildings. Very dangerous too."

"So is cheating."

"A jealous wife can be dangerous and deadly."

"Or a jealous boyfriend. Holland wanted to leave his boyfriend slash major, who was not happy about this and killed him."

"If I can't have you, nobody is supposed to have you." Sara said.

"Yes. Mills didn't want to lose Holland, he also didn't want to lose his position, which was why he poisoned Farris. How is Nick doing? Having a man dying under your hands in interrogation must be rough."

"It was, he was in shock and so was Crawford. There was nothing they could have done to safe Farris."

"No, but it doesn't change the fact that you feel guilty, wonder if you shouldn't have reacted in another way to do at least something."

"I know. Do you think it's easier to learn your husband cheated on you with a man?"

"No, I don't think so. If I imagine I'd learn my boyfriend cheated on me with a man, I'd wonder why he was with me when he prefers men. Sure, you can be attracted to men and women but why keep it a secret from your wife? You do talk about ex partners at one point, I wonder if Holland never had a boyfriend before. If he didn't realized he was also interested in men. Or if he knew and married his wife to have a normal life. Unfortunately it's still easier when you're living with a woman when you're a man."

"I can tell from personal experience it's not a good idea to have an affair with your boss." Sara mentioned carefully. "Or being in a relationship with him. Some people will always try to use it against you and him."

"Grissom was fair towards everybody, he never preferred you over somebody else."

"Yet, he was my boss and we broke the rules. And it did have an impact on us. You can't think the way you're supposed to when your spouse is at risk."

"True." Sofia paused. "Does he call? Do you call him?"

"No."

"So you are divorced?"

"Not legally but it feels like."

"I'm sorry. I hoped you could work things out."

"For that you need to talk and we don't talk. I do wonder if there is somebody else and I also wonder if I'd feel better if I knew there is another woman."

"He can't get a better woman than you."

Sara smiled sadly. "It's nice of you to say so but I left him once, then he left me and maybe it was one time too many. Maybe we should have thought about what we do before we got married. If our spouse is really the most important thing in our life."

"I want to believe you believe this when you get married. But priorities can change."

"Yes they can. And so can relationship statuses."


	29. Chapter 29

**12\. Dead woods**

"I talked to Greg about my parents." Sara's voice was quiet.

Sofia, taken by surprise by this statement as a greeting, sat down next to her friend, took her hand and waited for the brunette to continue.

"He said I could reconnect with my mother, talk to her about what happened that night. I don't think I can do this and I don't believe it's a good idea. My mother is, was, a drunk and schizophrenic, I don't think she knew what she was doing. And I know she doesn't want to talk about this night."

"Would you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know. I have no idea if I'd be prepared for all the details. I mean, as a CSI I see a lot of things and you must think, it makes me rough, makes me handle things easier but there is a difference between handling somebody else's case or your own case."

"Yes, there is a big difference."

"There will always be questions and I'll always wonder what happened because no matter what my mother would tell me, I can't believe her, knowing her condition at that time. She is not a reliable source."

"And there is no evidence to work with."

"No and even if there were, I wouldn't be allowed to work the case."

"Of course not. Did you ever try to reopen the case?"

"I planned to but … I chickened out."

"This has nothing to do with chicken out."

"I'm not sure about that." Sara sighed. "At least Abby knows what really happened."

"You stepped on some toes to reopen the case."

"Yes, doc wasn't too happy and Ecklie … well, he got better but I still piss of him off on a regular base."

"I know."

"Did you push any buttons?" With Sofia agreeing on what she had planned it had been easier to reopen the case and get manpower.

"Maybe I did."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm glad you found the real killer. Abby can continue her life knowing her father was not a killer. It doesn't get him back, nor does she get her family back, but it makes a huge difference."

"It does."

"You stay in contact with her?"

"Absolutely. We're going on the weekend, to a concert."

"That's great. You both need some fun in your life after closing the case. I read she had been back to the crime scene, it must have been difficult on her."

"It was." Sara looked into Sofia's eyes. "I never went back to the house where we lived."

"Would you like to go there?"

"I'm thinking about it."

"If you decide you want to go there and you need some company, no matter if it's for the drive to walk through the house with you, let know. I'll be there."

"Thank you."

"That's what friends are for." Sofia pulled Sara in her arms and kissed her hair. Friendship was like a marriage; you were there for each other, in good times and in bad times.


	30. Chapter 30

**13\. The greater good**

"I'm so glad Maya is fine." Sofia opened the car door for Sara. She had called her earlier to tell her she'd pick her up for breakfast.

"Me too." Sara got into the car.

"Is DB fine?"

"I have never seen as relieved as he was today."

"He almost lost his daughter."

"He used her as bait."

"She wanted to be this bait."

"Nevertheless, he agreed for the greater good. This makes him a terrific CSI and a lousy father."

"Or a hero because he might have saved a lot of innocent daughters of other fathers."

"Still, his own daughter."

"I don't think I could have done what he did." Sofia said.

"Me neither. It's different when you put yourself at risk for the greater good but your daughter?"

"He's one hell of a law enforcement member and I'm not sure his wife will forgive him for this. Or did she know about all of this?"

"No, she had no idea."

"I thought so. So Briscoe is dead and Winthrop is in the wind."

"Yes."

"He'll be mad, furious about losing his brother. It might look for us like we have weakened him but I'm afraid he'll want revenge and it will get nasty for us. When you approach an injured animal it's very dangerous and Winthrop is like an injured animal."

"I know."

"Be careful, okay? He knows you are a member of DB's team and I'm afraid he might want to get after everybody who is important to DB."

"Don't worry, I'm not exactly his type."

"It doesn't matter, Sara, you are a friend of his worst enemy. Please don't be anywhere alone. No walks, no stops at a coffee house off the road. I don't want anything happen to you."

"I promise I take care of me. Is that why you wanted to pick me up?"

"Partly, yes."

"You don't need to play bodyguard, I have a gun too."

"Doesn't matter, I feel better when I know you are fine and I know you're fine when I'm with you. Believe me, picking you up is the least thing I can do, I'm at a point where I'd like to suggest you stay with me to make sure you are fine."

"Don't be … you are serious."

"I don't want anything happen to you."

"Sofia, you can't stay by my side twenty-four/seven and I'm afraid it's more likely Winthrop goes after DB's family and not me. But I promise I'll be extra careful. If you want, I can check in with you when I leave for work and when I'm at the lab."

"It would make me worry less."

"Then I'll do it." Sara took Sofia's hand and smiled. She appreciated that the blonde worried about her and she was glad to have a friend like Sofia. Like Sofia Sara believed Winthrop would want revenge and there was a risk for everybody. It was better to be prepared and make sure everybody was fine.


	31. Chapter 31

**14\. Merchants of menace**

"Tell me what is wrong with people?" Sara asked.

"A lot of things."

"Yes! We had a case at the murder memorabilia. Why would any sane person with half a brain pay money to get their hands on items that belonged to serial killers? Why would anybody want to wear a shirt of a serial killer? Like he wears a shirt of a band and their tour date."

"Because they are just as sick in their heads as the killers are."

"It's what I think too. There were kids too."

"I'm afraid it has nothing to do with age, some people are attracted by predators."

"Do they think it's cool when other's get killed? Are they all sociopath?"

"You have to ask a shrink, I have no answer to this. Like I don't understand why somebody wants a knife made of human bones."

"One thing is for sure: we could make a lot of money if we sold evidence to our serial killer cases."

"Want to suggest this to Ecklie?" Sofia cocked her head.

"No, I leave this to you, you can sell it as the best idea to get new storage room and get some money into the empty cash box of the city."

"He'll love this idea. Did you look at the internet page?"

"No, I left that to Finn. It also showed me, we have to look after our equipment when we work a scene. There might be somebody waiting for his or her chance to steal our evidence and make money with it."

"Or jump next to the body to take a photo."

"Yes."

"The killer jumped right into your arms, he is cocky."

"He was sure nobody could get him."

"From admire to follower." Sofia took a sip of her coffee. "Sometimes I wonder if all the sick people meet in Las Vegas."

"We surely have a lot of weirdoes here but once you have walked along Venice beach or Hollywood Boulevard you know there are more weird people around."

"I never heard of that the chain saw juggler killed somebody."

"No, he didn't."

"But you are right, a lot of special people meet in Las Vegas. I remember the convention of werewolves and vampires."

"Or of the people who like to wear animal costumes and even had sex in them."

"That's an old case, I barely remember it. Over ten years?"

"Yes. Dead people seem to come often with these conventions."

"Nah, I think there're so many conventions in Las Vegas and not every time somebody dies."

"And yet we barely have a night without a dead body."

"Sin City is full of people who want to get rich, some of them want to get rich no matter what. When you want a quiet nightshift you need to go somewhere else. Alaska."

"Great, then I can work on crime scene of bear victims. No, I prefer Vegas. With all the crazy people."

"Why would you want to go somewhere else? You have me here."

"Right, you're the reason I live in Vegas." Sara laughed and bopped Sofia.

 **15\. Hero to Zero**

"Which comic book hero would you like to be?" Sofia asked.

"I've never been a comic fan, I preferred numbers when I was a child. Science."

"Oh come on, pick one."

"Who do you want to be? Wonderwoman?"

"Elastigirl. Sporty, stretchy, cool and married to Mister Incredible."

"Your boyfriend is Mister Incredible?"

"Sometimes he feels like." Sofia smiled.

"Sounds like it's serious."

"So serious we might get married this year."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Sofia beamed.

"Congratulation."

"Thanks. I hope you'll be there, I want you as my maid of honor."

"Me?" Sara looked irritated.

"Yes, you're my friend and I can't imagine somebody better than you."

"Thank you." Sofia wanted to get married. "Jessica Jones."

"I beg your pardon?"

"My superhero of choice: Jessica Jones. She's cool."

"Yes, that's a good choice, fits perfectly to you. You also look very sexy in leather."

"Thanks. We're not going to dress up and walk around the streets at night, do we?"

"No, we leave that to the officers."

"Good."

"So the superhero of your case was killed by the boyfriend of his mother, who afterwards also killed the man who attacked Brad."

"Yeah, he claims he's not a murderer but he kills Brad so he can't tell his mother what her boyfriend did and then he kills Tony over money. I have no idea what it takes in Seth's world to be a killer, in my world he qualifies."

"In mine too. Do you think Tina and Scott will stop playing superhero at night?"

"No, the death of their friend didn't scare, it showed them how much superheroes are needed. It will make them go out even more, find more people like them."

"An army of superheroes, just what Las Vegas needed. You know sooner or later they'll be our problem? Taking the law in their own hands and then we have to fight superheroes."

"Great, I can't wait to have them in interrogation." Sara sighed.

"Then you have to put on your leather dress, I wear my elastic suit and we talk to them."

"This will be the day when I quit because then I'll have officially lost my sanity."

"No, you can't quit, the Las Vegas crime lab needs you and you can't lose your sanity as you'll be with me in front of the altar. Not in black leather but a wonderful dress."

"Are there any photos of the wedding of Elastigirl and Mister Incredible? So I know what I'm up for? And can I meet Mister Incredible before the wedding?"

"How about you meet him tonight? We can have dinner together. He did ask a couple of times who the lucky one is I spend so much time with."

"He's jealous? Believes you meet another man?"

"Nah, he's Mister Incredible, he knows there is no other man." Sofia laughed. It was about time Sara and her boyfriend met. With the wedding later this year, they had to know each other and Sofia was sure, it would be fun when they all meet for dinner.

 **16\. The last ride**

"I heard you were in car heaven. Tell me, which cars were there?"

"A lot of old cars, real classics."

"Can you get a little bit more specific?"

"If you want I can give you a list of all the cars."

"Alfonso Delrosa, another mobster, another car that is connected to murder. Reminds you of something?"

"Yeah, the sick murder memorabilia. The car is worth a lot of money - even without the murder happen in it."

"I wish I owned a car like this. We work in the wrong department, why didn't we become mobster?"

"Because your mother had arrested you the second you had planned your first crime."

"You might be right on this." Sofia agreed. "So Greg could show-off with a little bit of Vegas mob history."

"Yes, he remembers all the details he wrote down once, amazing."

"He's cute when he's enthusiastic about something."

"Greggo is always cute." Sara smiled.

"Like you can never trust guys who make their money with cars; like Bixler."

"He lied to me."

"Which never happened before." The blonde teased.

"It happens all the time and it's really annoying they believe I'm this stupid. We are trained law enforcement members, we're doing this job for years, we know when people lie - especially when their lies are so shallow you can look right through them."

"Interestingly they always come up with a good excuse and explanation when you point out they lied."

"Yeah, in this point they are all the same. The reasons why they lie varies but the rest is all the same."

"Eva's mother wanted her own daughter to commit a crime, she wanted her to steal the car so she could pay off some shady loan shark. What a sad thing to ask for from a mother."

"First she told us how Eva got involved with all these bad people, even brought them to their house and then we find out, the mother is not much better."

Sofia wanted to say some things ran in the DNA but she stopped herself from saying it. She knew Sara had a very complicated relationship to her mother and suggesting she might be like her own mother wasn't something Sara wanted to hear. And from what Sofia knew about Sara's mother, Sara was not anything like he.

"You lost your voice?"

"No, sorry. So Bixler actually killed three people. First he killed his fiancée back in 1989 who cheated on him with The Vice. It's unusual the mobster is the collateral damage and not the woman next to him."

"Yeah, that it time it was all about the woman. And because he needed to get rid off the evidence that could connect him to this double murder, he killed Eva. I don't think he'll ever appraise another car again."

"Not unless he appraises the vans in prison."

"And the famous car goes into a museum. Greg and Finn enjoyed that right."

"Believe me, I had too." What a shame Sofia hadn't been around for that one last ride.


	32. Chapter 32

**17\. Under my skin**

"On days like today I'm glad I don't have a daughter." Sofia sat next to Sara and handed her the cup of coffee.

"One daughter killed, the other one kidnapped. Those are things no parent should ever experience."

"Yeah. Makes me not want to have any children."

"You're thinking about getting pregnant?" Now Sara surprised. First Sofia told her about her plans to get married and now she talked about having a baby.

"Yes, I want a child and my clock is ticking, I can't wait forever. They say forty is the new thirty but I'm not sure my body agrees. So yes, I hope to be pregnant before we get married."

"Wow. You're very serious about this family thing."

"I am. I want more from life than just a career. I want to have children, want to be a mother, have my own, complete family. As far as I know there is no rule that says you can't come back to work after you gave birth."

"You might not get your old job back."

"I don't care as long as I don't have to work the streets anymore. It's shocking but I want to ride a desk when I'm a mother so my child doesn't have to worry about me when I go to work."

"What is your boyfriend doing for a living?"

"Jack is a mechanic, he repairs motorbikes, it's how we met. I rent a motorbike one day and got interested in buying one for myself. The one I like was broken, I took it to his garage and he fixed it."

"You didn't have to pay your bill, I assume."

"I did, we started dating later. He's younger than I am, three years."

"It's not much."

"No, it's not. Anyway, you'll meet him later, he'll pick me up."

"Wow, I'm looking forward to it."

"He's also curious about you, I told him a lot about you. Anyway, back to the case. This guy kidnapped the two girls because he mistook the younger one for a woman he used to stalk?"

"Yes, he mistook her for somebody who already flew the city to get away from him. After the makeover Lexi gave Cara, she looked a lot like this woman. Kieran must have thought she's back when he saw Cara in the mall."

"What kind of stalker doesn't recognize he got the wrong woman when he's close to her?"

"A delusional one."

"How is Nick?" Sofia asked.

"He knows he had to shoot Kieran in order to save Cara. Kieran was about to cut her throat."

"Yet it's never easy and bring a lot of questions from IA."

"I know. He'll all right. What cares most for is that he saved at least one daughter of his friend."

"I wonder if that brings Cara's parents back together."

"From what I saw when they met at the lab, I can't see that happen."

"Things like this can change a lot, can bring people back together." Sofia had seen families break apart because of the death of a child and also families finding their way back together after such a traumatic experience.

 **18\. The end game**

"Have you heard any news from Finn?"

"No, DB has been in hospital and he says her body is recovering but she's still not awake." Sara was still in shock. Again somebody from her shift had been seriously injured and they had no idea if Finn would make it. Sometimes she believed there was a curse on the Las Vegas crime scene nightshift.

"Damn. She is a tough cookie, she will make it."

"I hope so."

"You got Winthrop."

"Yes, he's recovering and will face trial soon. I hope he'll never get out of prison again."

"I hope so too. He and his brother have killed enough people, he will get the needle."

"And I don't feel sorry for him."

"Me neither. Let's change the topic to something more positive. Or I hope it's a good thing. Is it true that Nick will leave and become the head of the San Diego crime lab?"

"Yes, he took the job offer. Lab director Nick Stokes, it has a nice ring."

"It does and you have a new place to go when you take a few days off. A friend who lives close to the ocean is a good friend for a weekend trip."

"Yeah I told him I'll be down there all the time. He better makes sure his new home has a guest room."

"Doesn't Greg's family live in San Diego too?"

"Yes they do."

"Perfect, you can both go there, four hours in a car is more fun with a friend."

"Maybe. I will miss Nick, it's sad to see so many of the people I worked with are gone. From the team that had been here when I joined are only Greg, Dave and Doc left. All the others left."

"Don't forget Ecklie."

"I wouldn't miss him. Even Brass left. Did you hear from him?"

"Yes, he's fine. He and Ellie are not in what you call a perfect father - daughter - relationship but he said they're getting better. And being off the job feels good for him."

"Good to know. I have to see him soon."

"If you want we can meet him together, I only called him and haven't seen him myself in a while."

"Sure, that would be fun."

"After dealing with another serial killer you deserve some fun. Did you think about running for the second in line? Finn will be away for a while, Nick is gone, DB needs somebody who looks after everybody when he's gone."

"I'm not sure I'd be the right person for this job."

"Believe me, you are the right person. You know Las Vegas, you know the lab, you know all about evidence and when you really, really work hard on yourself, you even know politics."

Sara laughed. "I'm bad with that and I've got a temper."

"So? Having a temper is nothing bad, you're a fair person, you care about people, you should give it a try. Trust yourself, Sara." Sofia put her arm around Sara's waist. "I believe in you."

"Thanks. I think about it."

"Good. Surely Greg will support you too. You're his muse."

"No, I'm not."

"Okay, but you're his friend and he knows you're good for this job. Give it a go, girl!"

Sara smiled. Maybe she would. First she needed a few quiet days to think about what had happened the last weeks. And she could decide what to do with her future.

 **19\. Immortality**

"Congratulation on the promotion, lab director Sara Sidle." Sofia pulled Sara in her arms and gave her a big hug. Today she didn't wait until they met in a bar or café, today she came to the lab to congratulate Sara.

"Thank you."

"I'm glad you took the job and not only the city is glad to have you. I'm glad to have you too."

"You had me as your friend before, there is no difference now."

"No, but now you won't chase suspects anymore, stay more in the lab and I don't have to worry about you too much."

"Says the former CSI who ran after an armed suspect."

"I chased the evidence."

"Yeah, sure." Sara sat at the desk, which had been DB's before.

"He's going east." Sofia said. "DB."

"Yeah, he's off to Washington, will join the cyber team. His wife wanted them to leave for a while. She wanted to go back to Seattle, he didn't want to go there so they decided to try something entirely new."

"I hope they're happy there."

"Me too. I think he agreed to leave because of Finn's death."

"I think so too. Damn it, I was so sure she'd make it."

"Me too but … she never woke up. Winthrop will feel like he won, like he at least hurt DB as much as he could after he had no chance to get his hands on Maya."

"He killed the colleague DB worked with for many years. I hope we'll never see and hear from him again after his trial."

"Me too."

"Cath is back in town, she might want to join the crime lab again."

"Well, she can work for you, you're the new boss."

"She might want to work another shift, she hasn't decided yet. Fact is, she wants to be with her daughter."

"Lindsey is an eager beaver, she'll be a very good CSI one day. Like her mother."

"Yeah, it's what I heard too. A new member of the team, the replacement for Nick. Not that anybody can replace him, but you know what I mean."

"Lindsey has always been a part of the family and I'm glad she joined us."

Sofia bit on her lips. "What about Grissom?"

"He is back in San Diego, sailing the ocean."

"You know there were moments when I thought you'd join him. He was back and it looked like the two of you continue where you left."

"It's not that easy, Sofia."

"I know, it never has been easy with you and Grissom."

"No. He has his passion, I'm the new boss of the crime lab, I can't just take off and run away with him. I did run away once, I won't do it again."

"I could understand if you did, if you want to be with him."

"Grissom and I had some time to talk and I'm sure he'll be back. There are a lot of things he and I have to talk about, have to sort out. You know he kept in contact with Heather?"

"I'm not surprised."

"He called her more often than he called me. It hurt to hear this and I want to know why. Why could he call her but not me?"

"You can work these things out." Sofia took Sara's hand.

"When it's the right time. If he wants us to have a second chance, he knows where to find me. I came here for him, he left for me. We're even."

"No sailing off in the sunset with him."

"Imagine I would be with him. It's not what you expect me to do, is it?"

"No, I can't see you run away from your new job. I can see you join him for a trip, I can see the two of you getting back together, but I can't see you leave all of this behind after you just committed yourself to the lab. You don't make a promise and break it in a blink of an eye."

"No."

"So if I invite him to my wedding in three months would it be okay with you?"

"Absolutely."

"You and him could come together."

"We might. He said he wants to stay in contact and I said the same."

"Good. I want a happy-ending for you, Sara. You know, you could marry Grissom again, a double wedding."

Sara laughed. Sofia had crazy ideas sometimes. She was absolutely cute and yet absolutely crazy. "It's your wedding, you and Jack get married, we'll be your guests ad maybe we get married again. On a separate date, not on your big day."

"You'll be my maid of honor, Sara, not a guest."

"Thanks."

"And I'll make sure you catch the flowers."

"That's cheating."

"No, that's helping my best friend to get happy." Sofia smiled and kissed Sara's cheek. She wanted a happy-ending for both of them and from what she had seen the last days, Grissom could still make Sara happy. They only had to work things out and if it wasn't possible for them to agree on a life together, there was always friendship.

* * *

And this is the end of CSI and of my extended CSI advents calendar. A happy new year to everybody.


End file.
